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Sunday, July 08, 2007
Ind. Law - New seat belt law may not cover occupants of truck bed
Bryan Corbin of the Evansville Courier & Press has a good story today about Indiana's expanded seat belt requirements (see HEA 1237). The story begins:
Two state lawmakers who helped pass Indiana's new truck seat belt law were surprised to learn a loophole they tried to close still may be open.Mitch Harper of Fort Wayne Observed picks up on the story here and has included a link to the memo of Deborah Reasoner, Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor for Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, that includes this in a list of "Does" and "Don'ts":The truck seat belt law was intended to prevent accident injuries, and the two lawmakers say they also intended to ban another dangerous practice: passengers riding in the truck beds of moving pickup trucks.
So they are frustrated the new law is not being interpreted that way by police or by the state's planning agency for criminal justice and traffic safety issues. A prosecutor who gave a legal interpretation to police departments statewide said the new law does not specifically prohibit an adult from riding in the bed of a pickup truck.
The prosecutor recommends that police not ticket people for that reason.
DON’T: Write seatbelt citations to riders in the beds of pickup trucks or riders in cargo areas of vans.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 8, 2007 12:17 PM
Posted to Indiana Law