What is the difference between primary and secondary seatbelt laws? Arizona is a secondary safety belt law state. This means that police cannot pull you over for not wearing your safety belt, but if they pull you over for another violation, they can ticket you for not wearing your safety belt. In a primary law state, police can pull you over and ticket you if they see you are not wearing your safety belt.

States with primary belt laws show greater percentages of drivers and passengers wearing their safety belts. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2005 the average safety belt use rate in states with primary enforcement laws was 10 percentage points higher than in states without primary enforcement laws.

With a primary law, Arizona will save an estimated 67 lives, 839 serious injuries, and $195.9 million in costs each year. In fact, NHTSA estimates that if Arizona were to pass a primary belt law, safety belt usage would increase by approximately 8.4 percentage points.

• 858 people died while riding in cars and light trucks in Arizona in 2006. Of these, 63 percent died while not wearing their safety belts, compared to 55 percent nationwide.

• Research has found that lap/shoulder safety belts, when used, reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent.

• Every hour someone dies in America simply because they didn't buckle up. Failure to buckle up contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety-related behavior.

• From 1975 through 2004, an estimated 195,382 lives were saved by safety belts.

• 21.1 percent of Arizona's population – over 1.2 million people – do not regularly wear their safety belts.

• About 60 percent of all unbelted passengers are ejected during a crash, resulting in death nearly 75 percent of the time.