You asked if someone in Connecticut can be stopped and ticketed by a police officer just for not wearing a seatbelt or if he has to have been stopped for some other type of offense first.

Someone can be stopped and cited for a seat belt law violation strictly for that violation alone. A police officer does not have to stop him for some other type of violation before he can enforce the seat belt law.

When initially passing their seat belts laws, some states required there to be another reason for a police officer to stop someone before the seat belt law could be enforced. These states are known as secondary enforcement states. Currently, 34 states and the District of Columbia employ secondary enforcement of their seat belt laws.

Connecticut is one of the 15 states that are called primary enforcement states. There do not need to be any special provisions in a seat belt law to allow primary enforcement. The law is written like any other motor vehicle law that police officers can enforce when they observe a violation. States opting for secondary enforcement must put specific provisions in their laws prohibiting police from citing for a seat belt violation unless another violation formed the basis for the vehicle stop.

New Hampshire is the only state without a mandatory seat belt use law.

JJF:pa