She must be auditioning to be the next Snowe or Collins:

AUGUSTA, Maine –Maine motorists will have to be more careful about buckling up in their seat belts if a bill that’s received initial legislative approval becomes law.

By a 20-14 vote Thursday, the Senate gave initial approval to a bill to make nonuse of seat belts a primary offense. The bill faces further Senate consideration before it goes to the House.

Maine’s present law prohibits enforcement of the seat belt law unless the driver has been stopped for violation of another law.

The bill sponsored by Sen. Christine Savage, R-Union, would change the law from a secondary to a primary offense. It would allow a police officer to detain and cite a driver or passenger 18 or older solely for failing to wear a seat belt.

Seat belts and child safety seats are now mandatory and a primary offense for persons under 18 in Maine.

Associated Press

This really infuriates me when we have nanny state politicians out there increasing Big Brother’s role into our daily routine, and even more so when it’s being pimped by a Republican. Wearing your seatbelt should be your own personal choice. It’s none of the government’s damn business whether or not I choose to wear a seatbelt when I operate my car. I actually wear mine probably about 90% of the time but it is because I choose to. I do believe it makes you safer when driving and so I make the conscious choice to wear it, but that is my choice. I don’t need a politician making that choice for me. Additionally, a lot of these laws are not for increasing safety anyway, but for enriching the government coffers.

In Pennsylvania, our law is the same as Maine currently, in which not wearing your seat belt is a secondary offense. You can’t be stopped for not wearing it. Many states are not like that, however. My parents live in Michigan where you can be pulled over for not having a seatbelt on and they have actually seen “checkpoints” set up where as you drive by a cop is standing on the side of the road with binoculars looking into your car to see if you are belted in. If not, his buddy down the road pulls you over and tickets you. Is this the environment State Senator Savage wishes to foster throughout Maine?

Thank God we have Big Brother Republicans out there like her working hard every day to protect us from ourselves. Fortunately, she is term limited and won’t be seeking reelection in 2008 to the Maine State Senate.

Drop her a line and let her know what you think:

SenChris.Savage@legislature.maine.gov