Those who have criticized the governor’s proposal to increase state revenue by ticketing people who aren’t wearing seat belts are right that this isn’t a good way to plug a hole in the state budget. However, because seat belt use has been shown to reduce the severity of crash-related injuries, the governor is right to call for a change in state law to allow police officers to stop and ticket motorists who don’t buckle up. This will save lives and, yes, money on costly medical care for those injured in car accidents.

Maine has long been among the worst in the nation when it comes to seat belt use, although it has registered big gains in seat belt use in recent years. The national seat belt use rate in 2004 was 80 percent, an all-time high, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In Maine, the seat belt use rate was 72 percent last year. In 1995, it had the lowest rate in the country at 35 percent when the national average was 66 percent.

Although motorists and their passengers are required to wear seat belts, those who do not cannot be stopped now for solely this violation. Under the state’s secondary enforcement law, motorists stopped for, say, speeding can also be cited for violating the seat belt law. National statistics do not show much difference between compliance in states with primary and secondary laws. Arizona had the highest use rate of 95.3 percent, but does not have a primary seat belt law. The other five states with use rates over 90 percent – California, Hawaii, Michigan, Oregon and Washington – do.

Changing the law, as the governor has proposed as part of his budget for the next two years, is a help. So, too, will be educational campaigns reminding Mainers of the dangers of not wearing a seat belt. NHTSA Administrator Dr. Jeffrey Runge said seat belt advertising campaigns combined with police enforcement have helped boost the numbers in the most recent round on data collection. Most states collected their data in June 2004, shortly after a $30 million national advertising campaign.

The administration found that in fatal car crashes in 1995, only 2 percent of restrained passengers were ejected, compared with 25 percent of unrestrained passengers. Three-quarters of occupants who are ejected from cars are killed. Unbelted drivers and passengers are more than twice as likely as seat belt wearers to suffer a traumatic brain injury. They are nearly twice as likely to require hospitalization as seat belt wearers.

As a result, medical treatment for non-seat belt wearers costs more. A study of 371 motor vehicle trauma patients at Eastern Maine Medical Center between January 1991 and July 1994 found that the average hospital charges for unbelted patients were $9,515 higher than for those wearing seat belts. Unbelted accident victims were nearly twice as likely to be insured or covered by Medicaid than those who wear seat belts. That translates into higher medical and insurance costs for everyone.

Opponents of required seat belt use like to say that wearing a seat belt is a choice. But taxpayers aren’t asked whether they would like to help pay for the expensive medical care required by motorists who insist on driving unbelted.

Until Mainers are given that choice, wearing seat belts shouldn’t be optional.