According to MoDOT Director Pete Rahn, the department's biggest emphasis in the coming year will be on supporting the passage of a primary safety belt law. Why?

• We know that safety belts save lives. This legislation has the potential to save more lives than any other single piece of traffic safety legislation.
• Missouri has had a safety belt law for 20 years. The passage of this legislation would simply allow for primary enforcement, which means that law enforcement could enforce the safety belt law like all other Missouri traffic laws.
• Missouri's safety belt usage rate is one of the lowest in the nation. Currently 76 percent of Missourians already buckle up. A primary safety belt law raises this by an average of 11 percent. For Missouri, that could mean a savings of about 90 lives and more than 1,000 serious injuries this year and every year after that.
• If we pass this law, Missouri would receive approximately $16 million to use to make our roads even safer. The National Safety Council study also estimates Missouri could have saved $103 million in Medicaid costs over a 10-year period if primary enforcement had been implemented in 2004.

Rahn urges everyone to talk to their friends, family and neighbors about why Missouri needs a primary safety belt law, and to Buckle Up every time in a vehicle.