Law enforcement cracking down on seat belts next week
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IDAHO FALLS — Law enforcement throughout eastern Idaho will be cracking down on seat belt violations starting on Monday through the Memorial Day weekend.
Idaho State Police, along with area sheriff’s offices and police departments, are participating in the annual Border to Border (B2B) seat belt initiative. B2B is a national campaign that uses the catch phrase “Click It or Ticket.” Nationally, state highway patrol offices and their law enforcement partners will coordinate highly visible seat belt law enforcement and they will provide seat belt fact sheets for drivers at highly traveled, highly visible state border locations.
“It’s proven that we achieve more when state and local law enforcement agencies work together to achieve seat belt law compliance,” ISP deputy director Lt. Col. Sheldon Kelley said in a news release. It doesn’t mean we want to write more tickets but it does mean we want to save more lives.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half the passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2016 were unrestrained. This time of year becomes very busy with travel and is historically a time where crashes and fatalities increase. It’s also the beginning of what many have known to be the 100 Deadliest Days of Summer across Idaho, according to a release from the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office.
During this year’s campaign, NHTSA is urging law enforcement agencies to issue seat belt citations to anyone caught in violation of the law, day or night. This is a special consideration for nighttime driving, when 56 percent of those killed are unrestrained.
Nationally, the seat belt use rate is currently 90.1 percent, according to NHTSA’s 2016 data. That’s up from 88.5 percent in 2015 but that means 9.9 percent — or some 32 million people — are still not buckling up.
For more information on safe driving visit the Idaho Office of Highway Safety website at www.itd.idaho.gov/safety or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IDOHS.