New Hampshire could join rest of nation with seat belt law

CONCORD, N.H. -- The Live Free or Die state might be poised to join the rest of the nation in requir ing adults in motor vehicles to wear seat belts, a measure that has pitted two of New Hampshire's most deeply held values against each other: its libertarian streak and its frugality.

After years of legislative defeats, a seat belt bill was approved last month by the New Hampshire House and will be voted on by a Senate committee today. The debate is unfolding in the state Capitol just months after Democrats took control of both chambers, as well as the governor's office, for the first time in more than a century.

The bill's primary sponsor, state Representative Jennifer M. Brown, said her goal is not to erode the state's famous motto, but to prevent serious injuries that drain the public coffers in a state that is trying to make ends meet without a sales or income tax.

When a person is in an accident and not wearing a seat beat, the Dover Democrat said, they either die or end up with a catastrophic injury that the state's Medicaid program must pay for after the victim's health insurance runs out.

"By that person being stupid and not wearing their seat belt, they are costing me and my constituents money," Brown said. "And if there is one thing this state believes in even more than 'Live Free or Die,' it is no broad-based taxes."

The bill allows for adults to be pulled over and fined if they are not wearing a seat belt: $50 for a first offense and $100 for a second offense.

That is more stringent than so-called secondary seat belt laws passed in many other states, which do not allow officers to pull over drivers solely because of a seat belt violation. If pulled over for another offense, however, a driver could also be cited for not wearing a seat belt.

In 2003, the most recent year for which statistics are available, New Hampshire had the lowest seat belt usage rate in the nation, at 49.6 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In states requiring seat belt use, the rate was about 79 percent. New Hampshire already requires that minors wear a seat belt.

A spokesman for Governor John Lynch, a Democrat, said Lynch favors the safety value of seat belts, but has yet to weigh in on this specific bill. If it does pass in its current form, the state could receive $3.7 million from the federal government for promoting public awareness of the need to use seat belts.

While the bill may face a fight in the Senate, the fact the seat belt bill passed the House was a surprising turnaround after years of rejection.

State Senator Robert J. Letourneau, a Derry Republican, has a simple two-word explanation: "an election."

In November, for the first time since 1874, Democrats captured majorities in the House and Senate and won the governor's office.

Since then, a number of previously unlikely initiatives have sailed through the Legislature, including bills that would increase the state's minimum wage, mandate part-time kindergarten, establish same-sex civil unions, and require restaurants and bars to go smoke-free.

As a result, state Representative Kenneth L. Weyler, a Kingston Republican, has begun calling New Hampshire "the nanny state."

It is a dramatic shift from a year ago when it was hard to turn on a local talk radio station, get a haircut, or have a beer in the state without hearing some discussion about adding "Live Free or Die" to state highway signs. A bill accomplishing that overwhelmingly passed the House and Senate and was signed into law by the governor within a month.

Letourneau, who sponsored the bill to put the motto on highway signs , is chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, which is slated to issue its recommendation on the seat belt bill today. Regardless of the outcome, the bill will proceed to the full Senate for a final vote.

"This is not about seat belts," said Letourneau . "This is about whether or not government should be mandating seat belts. It makes sense to wear a rain coat while it is raining, but the government shouldn't mandate that you wear one."