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Evers Files Bill To Unbuckle Seat Belts For Rural Letter Carriers
December 3, 2014
A Northwest Florida senator filed a bill Tuesday that would allow rural letter carriers to deliver mail without wearing seat belts.
The bill, filed by Sen. Greg Evers (R-Baker), will be considered during the 2015 legislative session.
The state’s law requiring motorists to wear seat belts includes limited exemptions, such as for workers collecting garbage or recyclable goods. Evers’ bill (SB 160) would add an exemption for rural letter carriers “performing duties in the course of his or her employment on a designated postal route.”
Comments
14 Responses to “Evers Files Bill To Unbuckle Seat Belts For Rural Letter Carriers”
I agree with the law revision only because the mail carriers are legal adults who can make up their own mind whether they want to take the risk. In actuality, Mr. Evers should also demand the USPS provide appropriate vehicles instead of POV’s. They also need airbags. I KNOW from experience what wearing a seatbelt (or not) in an accident can do. I won’t even drive on my own property without a seatbelt.
As a EMS professional this is not a good idea. Statistics will prove this. Seat belts do save lives mails carriers also.
Seat belt laws are another nanny state law that was enacted largely at the behest of your friendly insurance company. Whether I put on a seat belt or not should be nobody’s business but mine. I don’t see how a rural letter carrier could possibly deliver mail from the right side of the car with a seat belt attached. All this law will do is allow letter carriers to deliver the mail without breaking the law, which most are probably forced to do by necessity now.
Safety first.
This reads like seatbelts aren’t all that important. We’ll just make them required if we feel like it and let certain groups off so they don’t have to wear them. I have a big enough problem knowing our youngest in school buses aren’t required to wear them. Since they probably don’t exist in school buses, they couldn’t wear them if they wanted to.
Garbage like this sends SO MANY FALSE MESSAGES.
DaughterofRuralMailCarrier:
Fishhook240, Rural Mail Carriers already put wear and tear on their personnal vehicles. And you think that them buying one of the mail trucks would be better, your crazy. They are expensive and so is having the steering wheel and pedals moved to the passager side of your vehicle.
I’m sure they get some kind of compensation for using their own vehicle, Pay by the mile I’m sure . So yes I think for safety and to be fair they should have to. And if all rural carriers don’t want to buy the right vehicles then the post office should provide one. But most want the money. They could possibly be in for a major lawsuit.
Can we hear for the carriers as to what their feeling are? Evers comes up with some dumb ideas and this is one of them. Remember one of Newtons laws of motion– for each action there is an equal and opposite action. If the vehicle is rear ended the drivers body should go backward and then forward. The seat belt would be of use at that point— rear end crash or not.
Fishhook240, Rural Mail Carriers already put wear and tear on their personnal vehicles. And you think that them buying one of the mail trucks would be better, your crazy. They are expensive and so is having the steering wheel and pedals moved to the passager side of your vehicle. Some of the carriers are only part time and only get 4 days a month to work, they can’t afford that. I think that people who do not deliver mail should know better than to try to drive your vehicle like a rural carrier does.
Now if the US Postal Service would like to provide those vehicles to them then that would be great but we all know that is not going to happen.
YES, I can see exemptions for some specific situations not wearing seat belts and medical personnel in back of an ambulance should be one as they can’t treat their patients from the same sit down position and put their hands on the materials for their treatment as it is not all in arms reach. They have to be mobile at all times to better serve their patients as many of them are products from being stupid and not wearing their seat belts. I’m sure all these medical personnel want to be safe for they know first hand the results from not wearing seat belts but they need to be exempt. Mail carriers on the other hand do not need to be exempt because they are in a situation where they are on the edge of the road and in the slower lane making their stops still partially in the roadway and are more subject to be hit from the rear by drivers not paying attention. In most rear end collisions seat belts are no help but what if the vehicle is knocked into another vehicle or a stationary or slow moving object then it is needed. Are drivers / operators of FARM equipment on a STATE or COUNTY road required to buckle up. We could simplify this whole situation by not requiring anyone over 21 years old to buckle up–near like the situation on the use of motorcycle helmets of operators over a certain age –use them if you want to.
traumaqueen… Sound’s like a policy issue with your agency and not a law violation, Safety belt law only apply to drivers, front seat passengers, and children.
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0300-0399/0316/Sections/0316.614.html
Big mistake to make anyone exempt from any law. That will breed destruct of the law, can you say playing favorites? Looks like the law suits will be coming.
The seat belt is one thing but what about driving from the wrong side of the vehicle. If I jump over to the pass. Side and drove they would give me a careless driven ticket. Most of the rural post-delivery people drive regular cars with the brake and gas pedal remotely mounted to the pass. Floor board while reaching over to steer. I would get a ticket for doing that. They make vehicles that have the steering wheel and brake/gas on the right side and they should have to buy one to do the job.
Fishhook240 for laws applying to everyone equally!!!
This is a BIG mistake. My sister is a rural route carrier and was rear-ended, she suffered MAJOR head trauma (brain bruised, similar to shaken baby). She had her seatbelt on. She would probably suffered worse injuries had she not had it on.
Well if he’s gonna ask for it for mail carriers then why not add ems personnel in the back of an ambulance to his list of those who don’t need them. We don’t get a free pass and it’s much more of a hinderence to us than to letter carriers because we are all over the ambulance when we treat our patients.