N.Y. Mulls Seat Belt Law For Back Seat Passengers

HAWTHORNE, N.Y. ― Police said two of the camp counselors killed last week on the Meadowbrook Parkway were not wearing their seat belts.

Sisters Paige and Jaime Malone, passengers in the back seat, died when the car they were riding in hit a tree. A third back seat passenger was strapped in and survived.

When she's driving or riding up front, she always buckles up, but Carolyn Eddington admits when she rides in back, she usually rides unbelted. "If you're in the back, I just don't think about putting the seat belt on, because I feel safer back there, I guess, and because you don't have to," the Hartsdale resident said.

If you're over 16, New York law does not require you to wear a rear seat belt. A bill pending in Albany would change that. "I think it would benefit the people of New York State if there was a law to have the people in the back seat restrained regardless of their age," said Sgt. John Hennigan of New York State Police.

Even a crash test dummy knows unrestrained passengers in the rear are likely to become so-called back seat bullets. "They can become a projectile, hitting something in the car or possibly a front seat passenger," Hennigan said.

Every year a few more states pass laws requiring adults to use seat belts in the rear and every year, the percentage of adults buckling up in the back goes up.

In 2004, 47-percent of adults buckled up in the back seat. By 2008, 74-percent were using rear seat belts.

Tragically the sisters who died in the back of the Honda that crashed on the Meadowbrook were not wearing seat belts.

Diane Conner of Mahopac said the accident makes her think about buckling up in back, however, "they happen all the time, unfortunately, but, you know we just go on with our lives and forget."

It's worth remembering: buckling up in back reduces your risk of serious injury in a crash by 75-percent.

While New York and Connecticut debate changing the law, New Jersey will begin requiring adults to buckle up in back in 2011.