Police could stop drivers for failure to buckle up under legislation in the Minnesota Senate.

The fine would be $50, double the current $25 fine.

Proponents say a tougher seat-belt law is needed to get more drivers to wear a seat belt and to reduce serious injuries in traffic accidents, which cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year, The Star Tribune reported.

SF943, sponsored by Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, would create a primary law for seat-belt enforcement. Under current law, police cannot ticket drivers for seat-belt violations unless the driver is pulled over for another traffic violation.

Opponents of the bill said allowing police to stop drivers for not buckling up would increase racial profiling.

But Edward Rice, an African-American spokesman for the Minnesota Safety Council, called the argument far-fetched and insulting to minority-group members. Police, he told the newspaper, already “can choose whatever [pretext] they wish to stop me.”

The bill is in the Senate Finance Committee. A similar bill – HF1150 – is in the House Education and Public Works Committee.