BUPA SEAT BELT ENFORCEMENT STRATEGIES
Seat Belt Violation Detection and Vehicle Stop
Effective seat belt enforcement in PA’s secondary law environment can be done, and done at a
high level. Buckle Up PA is introducing several new techniques and strategies to enhance law
enforcement’s ability to detect and take action on vehicle occupants who are unbelted.
Your agencies policies ultimately will decide if any or all strategies are appropriate for your
jurisdiction, and your primary concern should always be for the safety of motoring public and
your officers.
New Seat Belt Strategy: Seat Belt Violation Detection and Vehicle Stop:
Writing a secondary seat belt citation requires officers to identify a primary violation prior to
stopping and citing for a seat belt violation
For an Officer to be successful in seat belt enforcement it is critical to have a detailed
understanding of the traffic, licensing and vehicle equipment codes. Without a thorough and
complete understanding of these laws an officer is at a substantial disadvantage when
attempting to enforce a secondary seat belt law. They must be able to articulate the reason for
the initial stop and are required, by statute, to issue a ticket for the primary and for the
secondary seat belt violation to be issued.
If an officer is unaware of the vast array of violations to initiate primary contact with a vehicle
when the occupants are observed unbelted, they are missing substantial opportunities to make
these contacts. Officers must learn and utilize
primary stop violations in order to increase the
number of seat belt violation contacts.
Identifying the seat belt violation first and then
focusing on a primary violation to stop a vehicle
has proven very successful in other secondary
states. This can be completed in both stationary
and roving patrols in areas of heavy traffic
volumes and slower speeds. Officers select
positions where they are provided opportunities
to more easily identify both seat belt violations
as well as the primary violations.
The key to success is to identify a seat belt violation and then observe and assess if there is a
Title 75 or 67 violations to justify the vehicle stop.