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Panel urges primary seat‑belt law, rear‑facing child‑seat rule and lap‑shoulder belts on new large school buses
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 they are designed to distribute the forces of a crash across the entire head and body of an infant or young child.”
Kelly Buttilleri of the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts gave a personal account of a head injury suffered in an unbelted crash and urged the committee to use collected seat‑belt fines to support the Head Injury Treatment Services Trust Fund. “I was in a coma for 4 days,” she said, describing the long rehabilitation that followed and the ongoing services the trust fund supports.
Jeff Larson, who has worked in traffic safety for decades, reviewed data showing that states with primary seat‑belt laws have higher usage rates and lower occupant fatalities. Massachusetts’ seat‑belt usage has lagged national averages, he said, and making enforcement primary would change behavior and save lives.
The Mass. Insurance Federation expressed support, citing rising roadway fatalities and insurer claim data showing increasing bodily injury costs and frequency in Massachusetts since 2019.
On school buses, Senator O'Connor and NTSB Transportation Safety Specialist Sofia Fierzada urged the panel to require lap‑shoulder belts on newly manufactured large school buses. Fierzada said compartmentalization does not protect students in rollovers, side impacts or intrusions and that “properly worn passenger lap shoulder belts would have lessened injuries and saved lives.” The NTSB also supports primary seat‑belt enforcement and rear‑facing car‑seat best practices.
Witnesses and legislators discussed implementation questions — including grandfathering older buses, potential costs to districts, and interactions with hands‑free driving laws — but no fiscal analyses were offered at the hearing and the committee took no formal vote.
