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Where Idaho safety statutes fall short

The “2008 Roadmap to State Highway Safety Laws” report cards graded states on whether or not they adopted 15 model laws. Idaho falls short in the following areas:

Adult Occupant Protection (2 model laws)
Idaho lacks a primary enforcement seat belt law that allows law enforcement officers to stop and ticket someone for violating the seat belt law. (The current fine of $10 is tied for the lowest in the country.)

The current motorcycle helmet law only applies to those younger than 19 rather than requiring motorcyclists of all ages to wear a helmet.

Child Passenger Safety (1 model law)
The state’s child passenger safety law only applies to children through age 6 while a model law would include children through age 7. (Idaho’s child passenger safety law also includes exemptions.)

Teen driving Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) system that phases in the full driving privilege in a three-stage process (5 model laws)

While Idaho’s laws come close to meeting desired guidelines, the state lags in two areas:

Nighttime restriction only applies to drivers younger than 16 but does include a longer period of time from 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before daylight.
No cell phone restriction is in place.

Impaired Driving (7 model laws)
Repeat offender penalties do not include motor vehicle impoundment, but do meet other criteria such as a one-year suspension, ignition interlock requirement and alcohol addiction assessment.

Idaho does not meet the requirement for adopting stronger penalties for high blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) drivers for exceeding a .15 BAC.

The state does not require mandatory BAC testing for all drivers - killed or surviving - in crashes involving death or serious injury.

No sobriety checkpoints are allowed and ignition interlock devices are not required for first-time offenders.