CO Seat-belt bill

CO State Sen. Peter Groff (D-Denver) introduced a bill, SB 151, that would make not wearing a seat-belt a primary traffic offense, meaning a cop could pull you over just for not wearing one (Bonus points to a Democrat for standing in front of this one, way to go Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, you get the Hydrablog "Who'd a thunk it" Award for breaking stereotypes).

This is a pretty basic Libertarian issue so I won't shed anymore light on this subject. But I do want to take SB 151's proposal and add another one. I did a quick internet search, I'm posting this before I head out the door for a quick trip so forgive my sloppy research, trying to find out if you're auto insurance could be canceled if you weren't wearing a seat-belt, a query if you will. Looks like no. My bet is that because insurance is mandatory, you pretty much get it if you pay for it. What I'm curious about is the impact on seat-belt usage if mandatory laws were repealed, and insurance companies could cancel your policy if you weren't wearing one (I would also expand it to DUI's but lets not complicate things right now).

I think people are smart enough to work through the logic. "If I get into an accident, not only am I much more likely to be injured if I'm not wearing a seat-belt, but not doing so voids my policy. More pain, more expense, no coverage, I'm wearing the thing." Not only that, but my bet is that my rates will go down (and like everything else, this is really all about me), because my rates don't have to cover people who were injured while not wearing said seat-belt. In essence, I'm no loner paying for other people to be stupid.

Also, given that after all these years and laws, compliance is still only at 80%, maybe letting people and insurance companies work it out is best.