Revised North Dakota seat belt law will go into effect in August

GRAND FORKS — A revised seat belt law will go into effect in North Dakota in August, and a local advocate believes it will save lives.

As a secondary law, seat belt citations have only been issued to adults in the front seats after a vehicle is pulled over for an unrelated infraction. It’s a primary law for anyone under the age of 18 to use proper restraints — either a car seat, booster seat or seat belt, depending on their age.

On Aug. 1, seat belt usage will also become a primary law for adults. Officers will be permitted to stop vehicles and issue citations to anyone not wearing a seat belt.

“It is a bill that we know is going to make a difference,” said Carma Hanson, registered nurse and injury prevention specialist. “We’re saving lives on our roadways in North Dakota.”

Some argue that the $20 fine for those who fail to wear a seat belt might not be enough to make a significant impact.

“I would have liked to have seen that higher, because I think the higher it is, the more of a deterrent it is, and it would encourage people to wear (their seat belt),” Hanson said. “That being said … if that had been higher, we would not have gotten the bill passed.”

There were 34 states with a primary seat belt law before North Dakota and, even when they didn’t strongly enforce it, usage rates went up as much as 12%, Hanson said.

“We know that that will save lives every year,” she said.

Hanson advocated for more than a decade and, after six legislative sessions, the law revision passed earlier this year. She believes the largest barrier was the North Dakota Legislature’s belief in individual freedom, and that the government shouldn’t legislate choices that should be common sense.

North Dakota ranks in the lowest tier of seat belt usage for U.S. states, ranging between 81% to 84%, Hanson said. National use was at 91.6% in 2022, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“If we had really good compliance with our seat belt usage, I don’t think we would have had to pursue this,” she said. “But there are obviously people who don’t believe that seat belts are important, or effective or necessary, because our usage was so low.”

The idea that choosing to buckle up — or not — is a personal choice that only affects the individual is one emergency personnel hopes to dispel, and several members of law enforcement testified in favor of the bill. Among them was Grand Forks County Sheriff Andrew Schneider, who testified in favor of the legislation in both 2021 and 2023.

“We see a lot of effects of law enforcement officers responding to these crashes, you know, dealing with that trauma,” Schneider said.

Though most learn to adapt, some members of law enforcement leave the field in part due to that trauma, Schneider said.

Within the vehicle itself, other occupants may be affected by one person’s decision not to wear a seat belt. In some crashes, an unbuckled person was flung into a buckled occupant and killed them, Hanson said.

Aside from at the scene of the crash, health care systems are impacted when they incur costs associated with caring for the injured who may not have insurance. Families are impacted, emotionally and financially.

“You can save lives and save money, and (the law revision) costs zero dollars to implement,” Hanson said.

From 2017 to 2021, 522 people died on North Dakota roads, according to the North Dakota Department of Transportation. Of those killed in car crashes, 51% were not wearing a seat belt.

“Something as simple as a seat belt can impact so many lives in such a short, short time frame, and taking a few seconds to put it on really can make a difference,” Schneider said.