SEAT BELT LAW Enforcement targets Hispanics

Officials at Hispanic-targeted checkpoints stop every car and hand out seat-belt literature.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- While law enforcement officers are stopping citizens of all races at seat-belt checkpoints nationwide, some checkpoints are being set up specifically to "target" Hispanic drivers, a group less likely to strap themselves in, federal officials say.
"Click it or Ticket" campaigns aimed at the general population began nationwide Monday and run through June 1. A separate program run by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration grants money for seat-belt campaigns in Hispanic areas.
Hispanics have a low seat-belt usage rate because seat-belt laws often don't exist in Hispanics' countries of origin, said Jose Ucles, the Hispanic public affairs specialist for the NHTSA.
Lorraine Novak, a senior regional program manager for the NHTSA, said about 35 $50,000 grants have been given for Hispanic-targeted programs around the country.
Officials say they're focusing their money where the problem is, not discriminating against an ethnic group.
"It's not profiling, it's targeting a specific population," she said.
Fear unfair targeting
Some minority legislators vote against seat-belt laws because they fear the legislation can be used to unfairly target minorities. But others say seat-belt laws do so much good they outweigh potential harms.
Florida state Sen. Frederica Wilson persuaded fellow black lawmakers two years ago to vote to make seat-belt use a primary offense -- meaning officers could pull drivers over for not wearing a seat belt -- despite profiling concerns.
"I have never attended a funeral because of racial profiling and I've attended many because of a lack of a seat belt," Wilson said.
Wilson said minorities have to weigh the potential of harassment against the safety effect of seat belts.
"There is a real problem of tension between minority youth and the police, and this is what frightens the black and Hispanic communities when you talk about seat-belt enforcement," she said. "You have to find a way to confront both -- the safety issue and the fear issue."
Officials at Hispanic-targeted checkpoints, like at a program starting in Allentown, Pa., in a couple of weeks, stop every car and hand out seat-belt literature. Every 10th driver, for example, gets a more thorough inspection.
"When we stop people we don't pull them over because they're driving a particular car or because they look Hispanic or Latino, we pull them over because they're No. 10, period," said Frank Peters, an inspector with the police department in Allentown, about 50 miles north of Philadelphia.
"What you're really looking at is applying the money where it will do the most good," he said.
Leading cause of death
Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for Hispanics ages 1-34 and the second leading cause for ages 35-44, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The NHTSA does not have data detailing the percentage of Hispanics who wear seat belts, said spokeswoman Liz Neblett.
In March the NHTSA announced that black Americans in 2002 used a seat belt about 77 percent of the time -- the highest rate ever. The general U.S. population buckles up about 75 percent of the time.