PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Witnesses from police agencies, health professions and automobile accident survivors urged the state Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday evening to approve a bill that would make the state's two-year-old seat-belt law permanent.
The 2011 state law that allows police to stop drivers and issue tickets only for not wearing their seat belts will expire on June 30 if the General Assembly doesn't renew it. Without it, police will only be able to issue such tickets when they stop a driver for some other violation first.
Supporters told the committee that the law could prevent three accident deaths a year. An American Civil Liberties Union official cautioned that the law could also be abused as an excuse to harass minority drivers.