Ohio laws aren't strong enough to keep people safe on the state's streets and highways, a national organization says.

The child booster-seat law that takes effect in April is the latest evidence in a legacy of lax Ohio laws that endanger lives and cost millions, according to the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. The alliance of consumer, medical, safety and insurance organizations released its sixth annual report card of states' highway and vehicle safety laws and found Ohio lacking.

The new law requires children 4 through 8 years old and those shorter than 4 feet 9 inches to use booster seats with seat belts. But violating the law is a "secondary offense," meaning officers can cite someone for it only after stopping the driver for a "primary offense" such as speeding.

The advocates group, as well as AAA and several other highway safety groups, say violating the booster-seat law and the state's seat-belt law should be primary offenses.

Fully half the states in the U.S. don't have a primary enforcement seat-belt law, the group said. But the report card shows even worse performance nationwide on 14 other laws deemed necessary to protect travelers.

"It's very discouraging each year to see how few states have passed laws," said Judy Lee Stone, president of the advocates group.

Ohio needs tougher laws on teen nighttime driving and cell-phone use, as well as blood-alcohol testing and penalties for driving while intoxicated, the study said.

The last time the General Assembly hosted a solid campaign to make seat-belt laws a primary enforcement matter was 2004. Critics called it an attempt to raise money for small police departments.

When the legislature was working on booster seat legislation, Ohio Senate Highways and Transportation Committee members called it an intrusion on personal liberty. The panel's chairman, Sen. Stephen Buehrer, was satisfied after the offense was bumped down to secondary enforcement.

Buehrer could not be reached for comment yesterday.

While several groups support tougher safety laws, it's hard to find a strong advocate for them, said Beth Bickford, executive director of the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners. "It is part of our policy platform," she said, but "not something we've instigated on our own."

Traffic crashes in Ohio took 1,257 lives in 2007, the last year for which statistics are available. Those crashes cost more than $11 billion in medical costs, related expenses and productivity losses.

Nationally, the cost amounts to an $800 per capita "crash tax," the advocates group said.

"The next step is national uniformity in safety laws," Stone said.

Among her group's findings:

• 29 states should adopt or change booster-seat laws to cover children ages 4 through 7 and classify the law as primary enforcement.

• 30 states, including Ohio, lack an "all-rider" motorcycle helmet law, and 12 others attempted to repeal their helmet laws.

• 15 states received "green" ratings for progress toward adopting the group's recommended law changes.

• Four states got "red" ratings for a "dangerous lack of basic laws" -- Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

• 31 states, including Ohio, were rated "yellow" for moderately positive law-making but with many remaining gaps.

dgebolys@dispatch.com