Advocates push for update to Arizona seat belt laws

PHOENIX — A recent slew of fatal crashes in Arizona has driver-advocacy groups calling on lawmakers to update the state’s seatbelt laws.

While buckling up is a requirement in Arizona, it is only a secondary offense to ignore the law.

“So a police officer can’t pull you over for not wearing a seat belt, you would have to be speeding or perhaps make an illegal lane change or do something else,” Triple A Arizona spokeswoman Michelle Donati said.

States with primary seatbelt enforcement laws report an approximately 10 percent increase in seat belt use.

Donati said it resulted in a decline of fatal crashes.

The auto club has been lobbying the state legislature to update safety restraint regulations for several years, but the measures have not been passed.

The last attempt was in 2013.