Fargo, North Dakota – According to Grand Forks County Sheriff Andy Schneider, the House may oppose a bill seeking a stricter state seat belt law.
“There’s a big group in the house of representatives over there in the house that say that your violating my rights and your taking away my freedoms when in actuality, I mean I don’t know how else to put it, but this bill is not about citations. this is about life,” said Schneider.
If passed, SB 2362 will replace the state’s secondary seat belt requirement with a main seat belt statute. The existing law only permits police officers to cite someone for not wearing a seatbelt when there is also another traffic infringement that is worthy of a citation.
A driver or passenger could be issued a citation under SB 2362 for failing to buckle up, even if there was no other traffic infraction.
The Senate has approved the bill, and the House is currently reviewing it.
“It’s just terrible honestly when we go to a crash. There’s nothing worse for a deputy rolling up on a crash and you walk up on a vehicle and you don’t hear anything, because what does silence mean? Silence is usually death,” said Schneider.
