Cuomo Wants To Require Rear Seat Belt Use For All [POLL]

Car crashes in the United States in 2009 killed more than 33,000 people. The crashes also injured another 2.2 million people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of the people killed in car crashes were not wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.

Not surprisingly, the CDC said that "[w]earing a seat belt is the most effective way to prevent death and serious injury in a crash."

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which compiles information on safety belt laws, said New York has required the use of seat belts since December 1984 for anyone age 16 or older in the front seat of a vehicle.

The maximum base fine for a first offense is $50.

New York does have requirements for restraints for children of varying ages and sizes, and it specifies when an adult seat belt is permissible for older kids anywhere in a vehicle.

However, there is no law requiring the use of a seat belt in the back seat for adults, meaning 16 years of age or older.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants that to change.

To that end, he put language into his 2020 budget expanding the seat belt requirement for adults up front to those adults sitting in the back seat as well, the Times Union reported.

Cuomo had the same proposal in his budget last time, but it was dropped during negotiations with the Assembly and Senate.

Coxsackie Police Chief Sam Mento, in Greene County, said requiring the wearing of rear seat belts was a long time coming, hudsonvalley360 said.

He said he also wondered why it wasn't included in the original law.

"It's a prudent law and I think it will save lives," Mento told the publication.

Now it's your turn. Should the use by adults of rear seat belts be required? Vote in our unscientific poll and tell us what you think in the comments.