How Costa Rica got its seat belt law back
Drive through San Jose today and you will see police officers giving drivers tickets – and advice – if they are not wearing their seat belt.
You may think such police activity is not unusual, but until the summer of 2004 it was impossible, because Costa Rica had no seat belt law, and so the police were powerless to prevent motorists driving – and dying – unbelted.
In 1997 a libertarian political movement succeeded in overturning Costa Rica’s seat belt law on the grounds that it was an unconstitutional breach of the freedom of the individual. Road traffic fatalities subsequently rose by 50%.
In September 2003, a major awareness campaign to promote seat belt use was launched by the Automobile Club of Costa Rica, Costa Rica's road safety council, the police and government, backed by the FIA Foundation. At the same time the government introduced new seat belt legislation in the Costa Rican parliament.
The campaign’s message, with the slogan ‘Por Amor, Uso El Cinturon’ (For love- use your seat belt) was broadcast on the TV and radio; displayed on roadside signs and billboards; and printed on thousands of leaflets handed out by police officers and volunteers. A seat belt crash demonstrator, provided by the FIA Foundation, toured the country. The campaign generated massive interest in the Costa Rican media.
In Parliament the debate raged until, in a late night vote just before Christmas, legislators approved a new bill to reintroduce mandatory seat belt use. Still the battle was not over. Opponents referred the new law back to the Constitutional Court for another opinion. The Court’s opinion, that seat belt use could be compulsory for drivers but not for passengers, was decisively rejected by the parliament.
The legislation was finally approved on 13th April 2004, the day before a UN General Assembly debate on global road safety. Costa Rica’s deputy transport minister, Karla Gonzalez, announced the successful conclusion to the UN General Assembly in New York during the debate on 14th April 2004.
Ms Gonzalez, a leading supporter of the awareness campaign, described the motivations behind the seat belt push. ‘In Costa Rica we were very clear on the problem, and we decided to face it and solve it. You have to communicate in such a way that people start to believe that they can change, that they can really make a difference, to save their lives’.
New seat belt legislation was published in Costa Rica’s Official Journal, La Gaceta, on 5th May 2004, thereby coming into force.
Within hours the police were on the streets enforcing the new seat belt rules. On just one day in May 2004 625 drivers in the capital received a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt.
The Director General of Costa Rica’s traffic police, Ignacio Sánchez, made his intentions clear, warning that 'police enforcement activities will be increased until people get used to wearing a seatbelt'. He was very positive about the FIA Foundation-backed campaign, saying ‘We have for the first time a good campaign which has a chance to convince people of the reasons what they should wear seat belts. The more we speak about it and the more they see it on television the more they will get used to the idea and we can break the habit’.
For Costa Rica’s road safety campaigners the harder battle – to change attitudes and behaviour – is only just beginning.