North Dakota's Highway Patrol and health officials are backing legislation that would make it easier for police to ticket motorists who are driving without seat belts.

"Deaths and injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes are a major public health issue, with a readily available remedy - the use of seat belts," said Carol Meidinger, the state Health Department's injury prevention director.

North Dakota requires vehicle drivers and front-seat passengers to wear seat belts, and drivers may be ticketed if a passenger is not wearing a belt. A violation carries a $20 fine.

However, the rule is a "secondary enforcement" law, meaning that adult drivers may not be pulled over for a seat belt violation unless an officer first notices another offense, such as speeding or driving with a broken tail light.

Sen. Duaine Espegard, R-Grand Forks, is sponsoring legislation to change North Dakota's seat-belt regulation to a primary enforcement law. It means an officer may pull over an adult who is driving unbuckled without first noticing another violation.

"How many of us would abide by a 65 mph speed limit, if we had to commit another violation before we could be fined for speeding?" Espegard said Thursday at a Senate Transportation Committee hearing on the bill.

"The law does not have the same effect if the enforcement is hindered," Espegard said. "I believe that in the case of seat belt use, enforcement is hindered."

Mandan attorney John Gosbee, who fought mandatory seat belt legislation until it was approved by voters more than a decade ago, said the bill is another erosion of the personal freedom of North Dakotans.

The bill is SB2380.