Washington Gov. Gary Locke this week signed a bill that allows police officers to ticket a driver solely for not wearing a seat belt.

Washington becomes the 18th state, as well as the District of Columbia, to enact such a strong law. Many states' mandatory seat belt laws only allow "secondary" enforcement -- an officer can ticket someone for not wearing one only when they're already been pulled over for something else.
Washington safety officials predict that as many as 36 lives will be saved as a result of primary enforcement this year alone.
"Collisions are also costly to society," Gov. Locke said, noting a recent Harborview Medical Center study that indicated 1,865 unbuckled crash victims had to be hospitalized for their injuries in 1999 when a seat belt would have prevented their hospitalization. According to the preliminary findings of the study, unbuckled Washington motorists count for $51 million per year in preventable hospital costs.