More Massachusetts residents are wearing their seat belts this year, state officials said today.
The number of people wearing seat belts rose from 67 percent in 2008 to 74 percent this year in a survey funded by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.
"We moved up seven points. That's significant," said Sheila Burgess, director of highway safety for the executive office.
She credited enforcement efforts by police, and education and media campaigns trying to encourage seat belt use. She also said that, following the lead of State Police, more than 100 local police departments have adopted zero-tolerance laws on seat belt violations. That means that if you're stopped for another infraction and an officer sees you don't have your seat belt on, you will get a ticket.
Current Massachusetts law allows police to issue seat belt citations only when they have stopped a vehicle for some other reason – which is known as a secondary seat belt law. Police can flag down a seat belt scofflaw only if they see a child under 12 is not strapped in. Some lawmakers are pushing for a tougher law that would allow officers to stop cars when they see anyone isn't using a seat belt.
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Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
No insurance? No problem! Thousands of repeat offenders share Houston's roads
HOUSTON -- On the road right now in Houston are people driving with no car insurance and thousands of them have the tickets to prove it. But as statistics obtained by 11 News suggest, many could care less. The attitude seems to be: no insurance, no problem.
11 News Video
Drivers without insurance
August 6, 2009
View larger E-mail Clip More Video
An estimated 15 percent of Texas drivers go uninsured. That's above the national average and is predicted to go up as the economy goes down. And the fewer insured drivers there are, the more insurance companies then have to charge the rest of us.
11 News investigated and obtained records on thousands of drivers ticketed for “no insurance” in the city of Houston. Turns out, many of them kept on driving with no insurance and were cited again and again.
In 2007, police cited the same 15,529 drivers more than once for no insurance. That rose to 16,381 repeat offenders last year. Of those, 107 were cited more than five times.
But drilling down further, 11 News found one driver who took top honors. Records show he was ticketed in 2007 for no insurance in July, then again in August and again in October. Then in 2008, police cited him in March, April, May, June and again in August. In all, he had been cited 15 times in the last two and half years.
Contacted by phone, the 21-year-old downtown Houston resident said times are tough. He had other bills and often couldn't afford car insurance. As of last week, he was still on the road.
“I don't understand," said the Presiding Judge of Municipal Court Berta Mejia. "There are warrants for failure to pay his fine."
Judge Mejia said the courts try to work with people to pay-off fines, but a case like this guy's perplexed her.
"I want them to get insurance. I want them to resolve their cases,” said Mejia.
The fines can be severe. They can potentially be over a $1,000 in city and state penalties.
If writing tickets doesn't seem to work, what might? 11 News found one new approach being tried not in the big city but in the small town of Richmond in Fort Bend County.
Richmond had a big problem with uninsured drivers. They were ticketing over a thousand of them a year. But in 2006, Richmond Police started an aggressive new tactic: impounding cars of uninsured drivers.
In the first year, they were towing at least a car a day. But three years later?
"So far this year, we have only towed 130 vehicles," said Sgt. Lowell Neinast.
That works out to about a hundred less compared to the rate in 2006.
The city of Pasadena is doing the same thing. They too are impounding the cars of the uninsured.
But critics say it’s unfair to the poor. It adds hundreds of dollars in towing and legal expenses when what low income drivers really need is more affordable insurance. Police say it's making a difference when tickets alone failed.
(The data used by 11 News was from public municipal court records which does not reflect the income level of the drivers. There is no determination of how many of those caught driving without insurance were poor.)
Source
11 News Video
Drivers without insurance
August 6, 2009
View larger E-mail Clip More Video
An estimated 15 percent of Texas drivers go uninsured. That's above the national average and is predicted to go up as the economy goes down. And the fewer insured drivers there are, the more insurance companies then have to charge the rest of us.
11 News investigated and obtained records on thousands of drivers ticketed for “no insurance” in the city of Houston. Turns out, many of them kept on driving with no insurance and were cited again and again.
In 2007, police cited the same 15,529 drivers more than once for no insurance. That rose to 16,381 repeat offenders last year. Of those, 107 were cited more than five times.
But drilling down further, 11 News found one driver who took top honors. Records show he was ticketed in 2007 for no insurance in July, then again in August and again in October. Then in 2008, police cited him in March, April, May, June and again in August. In all, he had been cited 15 times in the last two and half years.
Contacted by phone, the 21-year-old downtown Houston resident said times are tough. He had other bills and often couldn't afford car insurance. As of last week, he was still on the road.
“I don't understand," said the Presiding Judge of Municipal Court Berta Mejia. "There are warrants for failure to pay his fine."
Judge Mejia said the courts try to work with people to pay-off fines, but a case like this guy's perplexed her.
"I want them to get insurance. I want them to resolve their cases,” said Mejia.
The fines can be severe. They can potentially be over a $1,000 in city and state penalties.
If writing tickets doesn't seem to work, what might? 11 News found one new approach being tried not in the big city but in the small town of Richmond in Fort Bend County.
Richmond had a big problem with uninsured drivers. They were ticketing over a thousand of them a year. But in 2006, Richmond Police started an aggressive new tactic: impounding cars of uninsured drivers.
In the first year, they were towing at least a car a day. But three years later?
"So far this year, we have only towed 130 vehicles," said Sgt. Lowell Neinast.
That works out to about a hundred less compared to the rate in 2006.
The city of Pasadena is doing the same thing. They too are impounding the cars of the uninsured.
But critics say it’s unfair to the poor. It adds hundreds of dollars in towing and legal expenses when what low income drivers really need is more affordable insurance. Police say it's making a difference when tickets alone failed.
(The data used by 11 News was from public municipal court records which does not reflect the income level of the drivers. There is no determination of how many of those caught driving without insurance were poor.)
Source
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