Assembly won’t vote on seat belt law

CARSON CITY -- A bill to allow police more power to cite motorists for not wearing seat belts appears to be dead.

Noting most Nevadans already wear seat belts, Assembly Transportation Chairman Kelvin Atkinson refused Thursday to conduct a vote on Senate Bill 42.

Most bills must be approved by committees by midnight tonight, or they are declared dead. Atkinson's committee is not scheduled for a meeting today.

"I work for the Clark County coroner, and I see the devastation in accidents of people who wear seat belts and who do not wear seat belts," said Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas. "I think our officers do a fine job, but I do not think it is time to pull people over for not wearing seat belts."

Under current law, failing to wear a seat belt is a secondary offense. Police cannot pull over motorists for not wearing seat belts unless they first cite them for another traffic offense.

The bill would have made failure to wear seat belts a primary offense and allowed police to stop cars and cite motorists only for not wearing seat belts.

Atkinson said he feared racial profiling might result if the bill became law.

He also said a national study found 91 percent of Nevada motorists already wear seat belts, compared with the 81 percent national average.

"That says a lot to me. Do we really need this law?"

Atkinson spoke as Senate Transportation Chairman Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, sat in the front row of the hearing room, waiting for a chance to offer an amendment, and trying to get the committee to vote on the bill.

Nolan, a former paramedic, engineered a move to get the bill out of the Senate on an 11-10 vote, a day after it had failed on a 13-8 vote.

"I am not giving up," Nolan said. "Nothing is dead until sine die (legislative adjournment).

"I don't care if I irritate people. If something is worth fighting for, then it is worth irritating people for. I have seen people walk away from accidents and out of emergency rooms because they were wearing seat belts."

Nolan said the method of determining seat belt use is flawed. The study is conducted during daylight hours and many Nevadans, particularly in Las Vegas, drive at night.

While the bill is now dead, legislators -- particularly with the help of Assembly and Senate leaders -- have the power to revive bills.

The 2007 Legislature is scheduled to adjourn June 4.