A primary offense seat belt bill, letting officers pull someone over only for failure to buckle up, is one of several measures still alive at the Capitol as legislators approach their first major deadline of the 2001 session. By Tuesday, House and Senate committees must act on more than 2,000 bills. Most of the bills will die. A primary offense seat belt bill cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last week and awaits action of the full Senate. Bills requiring adults to wear seat belts have stirred controversy in the past among lawmakers who, like West, say the state shouldn't dictate adults' personal habits.
Separate laws require babies and toddlers to be secured in child safety seats.
Rankin County Sheriff Ken Dickerson said strengthening seat belt laws could improve public safety. If somebody's not wearing a seat belt now and not committing a crime, you can't do anything about it. His mother, Jayne Herrington of Florence, believes he would still be alive if he had been wearing a seat belt. The image Jayne Herrington said she can't erase is that of a plastic cup in a drink holder in her son's car. The cup didn't fall out of its restraint, even as the car rolled over.