Florida Enacts Updated Seat-belt Law to Save Lives

As Florida personal injury and car accident attorneys practicing in Ft. Lauderdale, we applaud the Florida Legislature for enacting a new seat-belt law, which will allow police officers to ticket drivers solely because they are not wearing seat-belts. Considering seat-belts prevent serious injuries and wrongful deaths, we believe all actions taken to insure their use is not only appropriate, but necessary.

Previously, police officers were only allowed to ticket a driver for not wearing a seat-belt, if they stopped that driver for another violation. The law, which Governor Crist signed, is named after Dori Slosberg and Katie Marchetti, both of whom lost their lives in car accidents while not wearing seat belts.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that the new bill will save 124 lives and prevent over 1,700 serious injuries every year in Florida. That statistic speaks for itself.