Click image for .pdf brochure. (Courtesy of Ga. Governor's Office of Highway Safety)
Just about every state has responded to the pickup's rising popularity by requiring adults to wear seat belts in the trucks - except Georgia.
The fight over seat belts here is a familiar one, waged just about every year in the state Legislature with no resolution. No fewer than three House bills to require seat belts in pickups are now pending, and the Senate has already adopted its own proposal.
But there's hope this year that lawmakers could enact the changes, now that Georgia has emerged as the lone holdout state that doesn't require adults in pickups to wear seat belts.
"This is the year it should pass," said Sen. Don Thomas, a physician who sponsored one of the bills. "It's embarrassing. Instead of making our state look tough, it makes us look foolish."There's little doubt that the laws could prevent dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries each year. On a nuts-and-bolts level, they can save millions of dollars in medical costs, not to mention help secure more federal highway money.
There are no known lobbyists lined up against the effort. But attempts to pass tougher seat belt laws here were blocked for years by lawmakers - particularly those from rural counties - who said wearing seat belts is a matter of personal freedom.
"I'm a free-spirited guy. I believe that people should wear their seat belts. I just don't believe the government should tell you to," said state Sen. Jeff Mullis, a north Georgia Republican who voted against the requirements. "It's really that simple. That's how I usually vote on these issues - anti-Big Brother."The sentiment strikes a chord with many in south Georgia.
"We got enough laws on the books for law enforcement to enforce, and the seat belt law is another way to tack on something,"said Phil Burrell, a 34-year-old pickup truck driver who lives in Sylvester, a southwest Georgia town of about 6,000.
He said he'd abide by the new law if it passes, but he's not sure it would make him safer.
"When the Good Lord calls me home," he said, "a seat belt ain't gonna stop it."It's that type of fierce backlash that derailed earlier efforts to pass seat belt legislation.
State Rep. Calvin Hill, a north Georgia Republican, figured he had a great shot to do it two years ago. Insurers, public safety groups and auto associations lined up in favor of his bill, and he armed lawmakers with statistics on the number of lives a tweaking of the law could save. The bill, however, never made it to a vote.
"There's still, throughout rural Georgia, the thought that having a seat belt on a pickup is such an invasive thing on their privacy," said Hill.Indiana used to be aligned with Georgia on the pickup seat belts question. But that state enacted a law last year requiring seat belts in trucks after lawmakers agreed to also block police from using checkpoints to enforce seat belt compliance.
Thomas concedes a compromise in Georgia may be trickier.
"They don't want government interfering with what we do. But what's the difference buckling up in a pickup truck and buckling up in a car?" said Thomas, a Republican. "We talk about being conservatives and saving lives and saving taxpayer dollars. This is an excellent opportunity to prove it."Click here for more GPB News coverage of transportation and safety issues.
(The Associated Press)
