With the state of Georgia running low on cash, the 2009 budget could be helped by the tune of $20 million to build roads from the feds if they would make a pickup truck driver under the same law as all other drivers in the state.

Seat belts. Lawmakers will again debate whether to end the exemption in Georgia's seat belt law for drivers and passengers in pickup trucks. Proponents of the legislation say closing the loophole will save lives and make Georgia eligible for $20 million a year in federal highway funding.

Georgia defiantly remains the last state in the union not to require the use of seat belts in pickups. One Georgian lawmaker, State Senator Don Thomas, has been championing a proposal for the past two years that would make pickup truck drivers equal to other motorists on Georgia's public roads when it comes to buckling up in the Peach State.

So far the proposed legislation has passed Georgia's state Senate but has yet to make it through the House of Representatives, after encountering opposition from Georgia's rural legislators.

Their argument is that wearing a seat belt is an inconvenience for farmers and farm workers, who frequently hop in and out of their pickups as they tend the fields, and that there is too little traffic on Georgia's back country farm roads to worry about the risk of a collision with another vehicle.

When collisions do happen, though, there is a very high chance that unbuckled truck occupants could be killed.

According to the Federal Government's National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nationally in 2005 4,649 pickup truck drivers and passengers were killed in traffic crashes. Of those, 1,377 (30%) were wearing safety belts while 2,952 (63%) were not. It was unknown if the remaining 320 (7%) did or did not use restraints.

Sen. Thomas, educated as a doctor, is quick to point out that there isn't just a cost in lost lives, but also in health-care expenses for the injured. And last year USA Today quoted Georgia State Representative Calvin Hill estimating 5,000 serious injuries and $20-million in Medicaid expenses each year were, "directly attributed to people who do not buckle up in pickups."

Georgia is also missing out on $20.7-million dollars in federal highway funding assistance that's being withheld until the seat belt gap is closed.

What's turned out to be an inconvenience for Georgia's farmers has turned into a major inconvenience for Georgia's other taxpayers too.

The sputtering economy may give Georgia legislators the extra push they need to require adults in pickup trucks to wear seat belts — changing the law would instantly give the state about $4 million in federal highway funds.

The effort has become an annual crusade. Supporters of the change come to legislators armed with frightening statistics about the number of lives that could be saved and accidents avoided if the law was tweaked. Yet Georgia has defiantly held out, becoming the last state in the nation to specifically exempt adults in pickups from buckling up.

But those pushing it point out that Georgia's cashstrapped budget faces a deficit that could exceed $2 billion. The state could use the $4 million grant on road safety programs and save an estimated $62 million each year in accidentrelated expenses such as medical costs. Only New Hampshire still has no seat belt requirement for all adult drivers, costing that state $3.7 million in grants in 2007.

"The budget crisis will give this more momentum," said Georgia state Sen. Don Thomas. "It's better to prevent this than to plan funerals."

The federal government has long tied highway money to seat belt laws. Georgia already requires minors to wear seat belts and adults to wear them in all vehicles except pickups.

That one exception has prevented the state from cashing in.

There's little doubt that requiring adults to wear seat belts can help save lives. The National Highway Safety Administration and the Georgia Department of Transportation estimate changing the law would save 21 lives and prevent 300 injuries each year.

No lobbyists are actively working against the effort, and insurance companies and auto associations have long supported the changes. But attempts to pass a tougher seat belt law have for years been blocked by mostly rural legislators who see the rule as unnecessary regulation.

"Adults ought to be smart enough to wear seat belts. We should be responsible enough to do it without having a state law that says so," said state Sen. Jeff Chapman, a Republican from Brunswick who voted against the proposal last year and will vote against it this year.

That sentiment strikes a chord with pickup drivers in rural parts of the state.

"I use common sense in my life, and in common sense, I'm going to use a seat belt," said Dennis Lewis, a 50-year-old pickup driver who runs a concession stand in southeast Georgia. "Do I need another law on the books to say I must use seat belts? I don't think so."

Indiana once took a similar position as Georgia, but the state in 2007 passed the adult seat belt law for pickups.

The Georgia Senate has passed proposals to change the seat belt requirements in recent years, but the measures often were bottled up in the House. Through a spokesman, House Speaker Glenn Richardson didn't comment on the measure.

But a growing number of political heavyweights say the time is ripe to at least seriously consider a change.

A spokesman for Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said the Senate would give the measure a "fair hearing and consideration." Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue said last month that a debate was appropriate.

"I don't necessarily think we ought to do it for the federal money," Perdue said. "But the kids I'm concerned about are those that are in the modernday pickups, when they get a crowd of friends in there, and they're fooling around."