Bay State’s scorn for seat belts unrivaled

Yet, ask Massachusetts residents why they do not buckle up and there are nearly as many reasons as there are scofflaws. People say seat belts are uncomfortable, uncool, and unnecessary.

They also went unused in three separate crashes over the July 4th weekend in which there were seven deaths - another grim mark on a state with the lowest percentage of seat belt use in the nation.

Even the fatalities, however, did not seem to faze people.

“If you are driving in the city, you don’t need a seat belt; I only wear one on the highway,’’ George Rantzaklis of Boston said on Monday during a break from a power walk in South Boston.

Rantzaklis then offered a rationale that was echoed in interviews with other residents, reflecting the contrarian nature of many in an otherwise enlightened state: He does not like anyone telling him what to do. In fact, he takes umbrage at the seat belt alarm that sounds on his dashboard. “I disconnected mine,’’ he said.

“My home is my castle.’’ said Vladimir Filozov, as he played with his grandson, Evan Connor, in a park off William J. Day Boulevard in South Boston. “Police should not be able to tell me whether to wear a seat belt,’’ he said, adding that he normally wears one.

“It’s uncomfortable,’’ said Maria Santos, 14, as she and Carla Perez, 36, walked along the causeway to Castle Island in Monday’s sun. “I don’t like them,’’ Perez said, adding that she knows it is right to wear one. “Sometimes they scratch you.’’

In Massachusetts, only about 67 percent of drivers are likely to buckle up, according to a survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That lags behind even New Hampshire, the only state without a mandatory seat belt law, where the rate is 69 percent. State lawmakers there have introduced mandatory seat belt legislation.

Tom Vanderbilt, author of “Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do,’’ said he has heard drivers offer numerous reasons why they don’t buckle up: teens “going out on a Friday night and don’t want to mess up my shirt;’’ “the person driving the car will think I’m questioning his driving ability’’; and drivers who do not believe there is a risk.

“People engage in all kinds of magical thinking,’’ Vanderbilt wrote in an e-mail. “That crashes happen to other people, that the air-bag will protect me (airbags provide much less safety than belts), that I’m only going a short way or I’m on a quiet country road, so I don’t need one, etc.’’

That last view was echoed by Linh Phi of Dorchester.

“On a freeway, it is not safe for people driving not to wear seat belts,’’ he said. “You don’t need one in town. If you are going 20 or 30 miles per hour for 2 minutes, it does not matter.’’

Beatriz Fuentes could not disagree more. Her daughter, Natalie DeLeon, was not wearing a seat belt when she was killed in 2006. The car DeLeon and her boyfriend were in was going about 30 miles an hour when the vehicle in front of it stopped short. DeLeon’s boyfriend, who was driving, swerved and lost control. Their car rolled over.

“She was ejected and suffered multiple major injuries,’’ said Fuentes, who has become a vocal advocate of seat belt use and founded the Friends of Natalie Bilingual Seat Belt Campaign in Springfield. Unrestrained passengers in a car that is moving violently after a collision or rollover “become like a rag in a dryer,’’ said Fuentes.

People who are unbuckled “are like projectiles in the car,’’ she said. “Those injuries can result in death.’’

Fuentes is an advocate of Natalie’s Law, a bill that would toughen the state law to allow police to pull over motorists who are not buckled up. Current law allows police to issue seat belt citations only when they have stopped a vehicle for some other reason - which is known as a secondary seat belt law. Police can flag down a seat belt scofflaw only when it is a child under 12 who is not strapped in.

Advocates of tougher legislation, known as a primary seat belt law, cite National Highway Traffic Safety Administration studies that suggest it would increase the use of seat belts by 12.5 percent and, as a result, save 27 lives per year in Massachusetts and prevent more than 1,000 serious injuries. Last year in Massachusetts, 277 died riding in automobiles or light trucks.

“In every state that has passed a primary seat belt law, seat belt use has gone up dramatically and fatalities have gone down,’’ said state Senator Patricia D. Jehlen, lead sponsor of Natalie’s Law. The legislation, she said, would also raise the fine for each violation from $25 to $50.

Massachusetts is one of 20 states with a secondary seat belt law; on average, 88 percent of motorists in the states with a primary law wear the belts.

Jehlen knows that people do not always wear seat belts driving around town. “I am a person who has not in the past buckled up when I’m going a little tiny distance,’’ Jehlen said. “Nobody thinks they’re going to have an accident.’’

Jehlen cited an analysis of the traffic safety administration’s Fatalist Analysis Reporting System showing that, on average, 54 percent of the people who died in motor vehicle crashes on Massachusetts highways between 2003 and 2007 were not using restraints; for 18 percent, it is not known whether seat belts were used; 28 percent were wearing seat belts.

Supporters were hoping the Legislature would approve Natalie’s Law before a June 30 deadline for the state to receive $13.6 million in federal funds for traffic safety. But the deadline passed; the bill never made it to the floor.

Similar legislation has failed to pass repeatedly over recent years. Opponents have argued that the law could lead to racial profiling by giving police another reason to stop drivers. Other vocal opponents include the National Motorists Association, which encourages seat belt use but contends that “individuals should retain the freedom and responsibility to make choices affecting their own safety and the safety of their families.’’

Lawmakers have also been listening to drivers in their districts who embrace “the libertarian idea that we shouldn’t live in a nanny state,’’ said Jeff Larson, general manager of SmartRoute Systems Inc., in Cambridge.

Not all Massachusetts drivers interviewed this week oppose a primary seat belt law.

“It saves lives,’’ said Tom Brooks, of South Boston. “People who don’t wear seat belts are threatening people’s lives.’’

His friend Anthony Senna agreed. “If they see you without a seat belt on, you should be ticketed,’’ he said.

David Filipov can be reached at filipov@globe.com. Maria Cramer of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

Correction: Because of outdated information provided to the Globe, a Page One story on July 8 about seat belt use gave an incorrect figure in describing the number of states without primary seat belt laws. As of June 30, 20 states do not have primary seatbelt laws.