S E A T B E L T S
S A V E L I V E S
Appendix C
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century
The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) established a new incentive grant program under Section 405 of Title 23, United States Code. Under this new program, States may qualify for incentive grant funds by adopting and implementing effective programs to reduce highway deaths and injuries resulting from individuals riding unrestrained or improperly restrained in motor vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published an interim final rule in the Federal Register on October 1, 1998 (63 FR 52592), implementing this legislation. The regulation will be codified in 23 CFR Part 1345.
A State is eligible for an incentive grant by demonstrating that it has implemented at least four of the following six criteria:
1. Safety belt use law. A State must make unlawful throughout the State the operation of a passenger motor vehicle whenever an individual (other then a child who is secured in a child restraint system) in the front seat of the vehicle (and beginning in fiscal year 2001, in any seating position in the vehicle) does not have a safety belt properly secured about the individual’s body.
2. Primary safety belt use law. A State must provide for the primary enforcement of its safety belt use law.
3. Minimum fine or penalty points. A State must provide for the imposition of a minimum fine of not less than $25.00 or one or more penalty points on the driver’s licenses of an individual:
a) For a violation of the State’s safety belt use law; and
b) For a violation of the State’s child passenger protection law.
4. Special traffic enforcement program. A State must establish a special traffic enforcement program for occupant protection that emphasizes publicity for the program. The program must provide for periodic enforcement efforts. Each enforcement effort must include the following five elements, in chronological order:
a) A safety belt observed use survey conducted before any enforcement wave;
b) A media campaign to inform the public about the risks and costs of traffic crashes, the benefits of increased occupant protection use, and the need for enforcement as a way to manage those risks and costs;
c) Local media events announcing a pending enforcement wave;
d) A wave of enforcement effort consisting of checkpoints, saturation patrols or other enforcement tactics;
e) A post-wave observed use survey coupled with a post-wave media event announcing the results of the survey and the enforcement effort.
The State’s program must provide for at least two enforcement efforts each year and must require the participation of State and local police in each effort. The program must cover at least 70% of the State’s population.
5. Child passenger protection education program. A State must provide an effective system for educating the public about the proper use of child safety seats. The program must, at a minimum:
a) Provide information to the public about proper seating positions for children in air bag equipped motor vehicles, the importance of restraint use, and instruction on how to reduce the improper use of child restraint systems;
b) Provide for child passenger safety (CPS) training and retraining to establish or update child passenger safety technicians, police officers, fire and emergency personnel and other educators to function at the community level for the purpose of educating the public about proper restraint use and to teach child care givers how to install a child safety seat correctly. The training should encompass the goals and objectives of NHTSA’s Standardized Child Passenger Safety Technician Curriculum;
c) Provide periodic child safety seat clinics conducted by State and local agencies (health, medical, hospital, enforcement, etc.); and
d) The State’s program activities (with the exception of the training and retraining activities) must cover at least 70% of the State’s population.
6. Child passenger protection law. The State must make unlawful the operation of a passenger motor vehicle whenever an individual who is less than 16 years of age is not properly secured in a child safety seat or other appropriate restraint system.
A State that wants to apply for an incentive grant should submit an application to the appropriate NHTSA Regional Administrator, demonstrating that it meets at least four of the six criteria listed above, in accordance with the provisions in the agency’s implementing regulation.