seat belts

The Wyoming Highway Patrol, Cheyenne Police Department and other law enforcement agencies are reminding motorists to buckle up their seat belts.

In Wyoming, several bills have been put forward in the legislature over the years to make not wearing seat belts a primary offense, so that police could stop cars for that alone.

The penalty for any passengers over 12 not wearing seat belts would increase from the current $10 to $100.

The bill would also allow traffic stops for seat belt violations, rather than requiring another traffic violation before a stop could be made, as required by current law.

Scott's death was not the only tragedy that occurred in Wyoming over Mother's Day weekend.

Current Wyoming law only allows people to be ticketed for not wearing seat belts if they are stopped for another violation first.

As of April 15, the patrol says 17 of 38 people who died on Wyoming roadways in 2019 were not buckled up.

Officials are looking at all the information to determine if there a commonality, but multiple factors make it difficult to address one area of concern.