By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — When Arkansas’ new primary seat belt law goes into effect June 30, state troopers will begin pulling over anyone who does not buckle up — even their own mothers.

At least that’s the claim made by one of several television ads the Arkansas State Police has produced to remind Arkansans that failing to wear a seat belt is about to become a primary offense, meaning a violation can be the sole reason for a traffic stop. Currently, an officer can issue a ticket for not wearing a seat belt only after stopping a driver for another violation.

The new law applies to both drivers and front-seat passengers.

In the ad, which will begin airing across the state Wednesday, Addie Gibson of Jacksonville plays a driver stopped by a state trooper who happens to be her son.

“Son, why are you pulling me over?” she asks.

“Mom, I’ve told you over and over to wear your seat belt and you won’t do it. Now I’m going to write you a ticket,” the trooper says.

He then says to the viewer: “If I will give my own mother a ticket, I wouldn’t think twice about giving you one.”

Speaking a news conference Tuesday announcing the ad campaign, Gibson said the ad was “a very true story.” Her son, the late Trooper Tim Ghoshon, once ticketed her for failing to wear her seat belt, she told reporters.

Ghoshon, who died of cancer four years ago, is played in the ad by Trooper Zach Owens, who is based in Malvern.

Gibson said her son ticketed her after warning her twice.

“From that time on, I have been wearing my seat belt,” she said. “I even tell people that get in my car, ‘Put your seat belt on.’ If they act like they don’t want to put a seat belt on, I say, ‘You have to get out.’”

The $500,000 ad campaign, paid for with federal funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will include television, radio, print, Internet and billboard ads and will run through July 12.

State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said the only cost to the state was the cost of producing the ads, which he said was “minimal” because state police did the work in-house.

State Sen. Hank Wilkins, D-Pine Bluff, who sponsored the new law during this year’s legislative session, spoke of his repeated efforts over the years to make failing to wear a seat belt a primary offense.

“This time, in 2009, the time was finally right to pass the seat belt law,” Wilkins said. “The need for this law is urgent because we recognize that so many people who are in catastrophic auto accidents die simply because they were not restrained.”

Romell Cooks, regional administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, estimated the law will increase seat belt use by 11.8 percent and will save about 50 lives a year. The law also will allow Arkansas to receive a $9.5 million incentive grant from the federal government to fund safety-related projects, she said.

State police officials said they did not expect a significant increase in tickets because wearing a seat belt has been the law in Arkansas for years, though only a secondary offense.

Drivers will not be given a grace period, said Maj. Ed Wolfe, eastern region commander of the state police’s Highway Patrol Division.

“If you’re violating the law in the state of Arkansas, then some kind of enforcement action will be taken,” he said.

State Police Director Col. Winford Phillips said the day the law takes effect will be a historic one for the state.

“I predict there will be a time come very soon that Arkansans ask why this law wasn’t passed earlier,” he said.