Nebraska Legislator Pushes for Change in Seat Belt Law

A Nebraska state senator wants to change the state’s seat belt law.

Sen. John Harms of Scottsbluff wants to make the law a primary violation, which means a driver could be pulled over for not buckling up.

Under current law, a driver has to be pulled over for another violation before he or she can be cited.

Harms says changing the law is a good idea because it saves lives. He says that in January he’ll probably introduce a bill to make the change.

Nebraska could get $7.4 million in federal highway funding if it were to upgrade its seat belt law by Sept. 30, 2009.

Romell Cooks of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that if Nebraska doesn’t change its law by then, the money goes away.

Latest Comments

• August 19, 2008 at 2:32 am

  'Cause money talks says:

  Good comments about not doing anything until $$$ is threatened. I think society is mostly ok, just our legislators are overly twisted so as to make the rest of us look bad.
• August 19, 2008 at 1:26 am

  M says:

  Notice how before this wasn;t and issue and the law has been this way for years. BUT... the Federal Funding expiration date is coming up soon so you better make it a law now s... read more
• August 19, 2008 at 10:08 am

  lastbat says:

  I've never understood the purpose of having secondary violations. If it's against the law then an officer should be able to pull you over for it. If it's not worth pulling y... read more