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Panel urges primary seat‑belt law, rear‑facing child‑seat rule and lap‑shoulder belts on new large school buses

2935422 · April 9, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Advocates, insurers and safety experts testified in favor of multiple related bills: primary enforcement of seat‑belt laws, a rear‑facing requirement for children under age 2, and a mandate for lap‑shoulder belts on new large school buses. Testimony combined personal stories, national research and NTSB recommendations.

Advocates, safety organizations and state and national experts urged the Joint Committee to advance a package of traffic‑safety measures: primary enforcement for seat‑belt violations, a rear‑facing car‑seat requirement for children under 2, and lap‑shoulder belts on new large school buses.

Christina Hayman of AAA Northeast told the committee: “seat belt use rate in Massachusetts is 80 percent while the national average is 91 percent,” and argued both primary enforcement and the rear‑facing car‑seat bill would save lives. Hayman said rear‑facing car seats “are safer because…

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