BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – Starting Aug. 1, anyone driving or riding in a passenger vehicle will need to buckle up in North Dakota after the legislature passed a primary seatbelt bill that was signed into law by Gov. Doug Burgum.
The primary law will require everyone in a vehicle to be buckled up. Under the current secondary law, a driver has to be pulled over for another traffic violation before getting a seatbelt ticket.
Dickinson Sen. Dean Rummel said his background as a member of a rural fire rescue squad played a role in his desire to sponsor the bill.
“I’ve seen enough accidents where people were not belted in and they lost their lives,” Rummel said. “With this, we’re hoping that we have a much greater participation from the public in using safety belts.”
Rummel said vehicle safety features only work if people are buckled up.
“If you’re not, of course rollovers are the worst,” Rummel said. “You get thrown from the vehicle and you have a three to four times greater likelihood of dying in that situation. If we’re strapped in, our chance of surviving is so much higher.”
According to Rummel, medical injuries from not wearing seatbelts exceeded over $200 million a year with the primary hospitals in North Dakota.
Rummel has received mixed reaction from the public since the bill passed.
“Some people think it’s a violation of their personal rights,” Rummel said. “Others feel it’s about time we had a primary seatbelt law to save lives, because a bill like this will save lives.”
Under the law, the driver would be fined $20 per person not wearing a seatbelt.
The seatbelt proposal was part of an earlier bill that would have raised the speed limit, but that bill was vetoed by Gov. Burgum.
