WHEREAS, a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates that States that upgrade from secondary enforcement to primary enforcement safety belt laws see safety belt use rates increase an average of seventeen percentage points; and

WHEREAS, Michigan, a state that switched from secondary to primary enforcement safety belt laws has credited the resulting increased safety belt use for a drop in traffic fatalities; and

WHEREAS, it is difficult for law enforcement officers to enforce secondary safety belt laws; and

WHEREAS, studies by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have shown strong support for primary enforcement across demographic groups in national surveys and provide documentation that there has been no disproportionate enforcement of safety belt laws with respect to minorities in states that have upgraded to primary enforcement; and

WHEREAS, studies have shown that safety belt use is lower among various ethnic groups resulting in proportionally more injuries and deaths to such ethnic groups; and

WHEREAS, deaths and injuries from traffic crashes can be significantly reduced by upgrading to primary enforcement laws; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) duly assembled at its 108th Annual Conference in Toronto, Ontario endorses primary safety belt laws and encourages its members to participate in activities associated with upgrading existing secondary safety belt laws to primary laws.