Coming to a backseat in your car

Monday, Gov. Pat Quinn signed a new Illinois law which requires all backseat passengers to wear seat belts, according to Illinois Statehouse News.

Illinois law already requires all front seat passengers and all “children” under 19 to wear seat belts.

The new law requires any person, child or adult, riding in the backseat to be buckled up. Fines begin at $25 for this offense.

While Quinn signed the law today, the it does not go into effect until January 1st, 2012.

While this new law may result in growing the number of seat belt violations issued, at least one law enforcement official quoted in the story admits it will be difficult for police and state troopers to see inside the backseat of vehicles.

Lt. Gerry Bustos, of the Rock Island County Sheriff’s Department, said his office won’t be issuing tickets, until it’s undertaken a public education campaign. He admitted, though, that spotting the violations might be tough.

“The officers are going to need to see that somebody is not wearing a seat belt, and my guess (is that) the backseat is going to be kind of difficult for a police officer to see inside,” Bustos said.

According to the news story, Illinois State Police have only issued 37,572 seat belt violations halfway through 2011 compared to 96,246 seat belt violations for all of 2010.

Read the full story from Illinois Statehouse News, “State tightens seat belt law.”