ST. GEORGE – –According to a release issued today, the St. George Police Department will join local and national law enforcement officers and highway safety advocates across Utah and the country for the 2013 national “Click It or Ticket” seatbelt enforcement mobilization, May 20-June 2.
“Wearing a seatbelt isn’t just important on fast moving highways, in urban areas, or during congestion,” the police release stated, “motorists die on our state’s roadways all times of day, all days of the week, and on all types of roads. Buckling up is one of the best ways to prevent injury and death in car crashes. This is why officers will be cracking down on motorists who fail to wear their seatbelts – during day and nighttime hours and in urban and rural communities statewide.”
Targeting drivers of pickup trucks
With almost 600,000 pickups in Utah – roughly one of every four registered vehicles – this year’s campaign will emphasize the importance of buckling up to motorists who drive or ride in pickups. According to the Utah Department of Public Safety, pickup drivers and passengers use seat belts at a lower rate than others:
• 69.3 percent of pickup drivers and passengers buckle up compared to 86 percent of other drivers and passengers.
• Only 55.6 percent of pickup drivers and passengers in rural areas buckle up and only 74.1 percent of pickup drivers and passengers in urban areas buckle up.
Utah averages
On an average day in Utah, there are 143 motor vehicle crashes involving 353 people, resulting in 61 injuries and 1 death. In Utah, unbuckled motorists were 40 times more likely to die in a crash than belted motorists.
“So, if you ride unbuckled, you are playing with your own life,” the police release said, “and the lives you may leave behind in the event of a fatal crash.”
Enforcement programs work
High-visibility enforcement such as the “Click It or Ticket” mobilization is credited with helping to increase the state’s belt usage rate from 67.4 percent in 2000 to an observed rate of 81.9 percent in 2012.
Belt use saves thousands of lives each year across America and seatbelts have saved an estimated 1,502 lives in Utah since 2000.
The St George Police Department is strongly supporting enhanced enforcement of the seat belt laws. It urges:
Remember: It’s Click It or Ticket. Buckle up and encourage your loved ones to do the same. You’ll save the cost of a ticket and my even save a life.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews
Sounds like profiling to me. But the real goal is to just get folks pulled over, then they can run wants and warrants, check for other violations as you sit there and build on the initial traffic stop. Just another way of getting in people’s business.
Or it sounds like they just want you to wear your seat belt. I would imagine it’s a lot less work for them to write you a ticket than to scrape your body off the asphalt and investigate an accident.
I agree Sir. people wonder why did he or she die if it was just a significant coalition but the body is so fragile and breaks easy. WEAR A SEAT BELT PLEASE.
What the heck does a “significant coalition” have to do with this story?
Nah, its just another law to have a reason to check people out after they are pulled over. Kind of like a burned out license plate bulb. Not a big deal, but causes delays and ends up costing you unnecessarily. I understand the “lets be safe” mentality but c’mon, how did most of us ever survive the days of no bike helmets and seatbelts shoved down in the crack of the seats. We always lose freedoms when “we have to have this law in order to protect the masses” and we can “make” everyone safe by forcing this on the public. Yea, heard that one before.
No actually it is called holding people accountable.
I wonder if they are just going to roam around looking for the revenue or if they are going to have roadblocks.
I am seatbelt wearer myself, but giving tickets for someone’s choice to risk their life goes against basic freedom. We don’t ticket someone for smoking, drinking, riding a motorcycle without a seatbelt or helmet, jumping out of planes, doing stunts on a dirt bike, or a hundred other dangerous things. It’s about personal responsibility and accountability. Pro-Education, Anti-Regulation.
I agree. Its OK not to wear a helmet but we are forced to wear a seat-belt. I feel it should be out choice if we want to wear our seat belt. If we can choose to smoke, drink and even sign up for the military we should be able to decide if we want to wear our seat-belt!
People forget that Driving is a PRIVILEGE not more nothing less ITS A PRIVILEGE……so you have to follow the law in order to keep your driving Privilege.
Actually Driving is an ACTION. Holding a permit to drive on public roads is a privilege. Police are granted power to enforce law by the people so long as it doesn’t impede upon a persons rights. I think the question raised here is whether or not a seatbelt law infringes upon said rights.
Do any of you have any idea how much a citation for not wearing a seatbelt is?? Of course Law Enforcement is concerned about your well-being. They don’t want to be telling your next of kin of your demise. But economic times are difficult, even for municipalities. There needs to be some revenue being generated for the City coffers. And you can bet it won’t just be citations for seatbelt non-compliance being issued. Other motor vehicle violations can and do run in the hundreds. Think of this seatbelt campaign as a “blood drive” for the holidays.
Right on the money EH! I don’t know why we accept governments intrusion into our liberties. This article is very informative, and to inform is the proper role of Gov’t. Not to protect us from ourselves. Perhaps there should be a law that nobody can get out of bed. Just imagine how many deaths and injuries that would prevent!
Len
I like it. How often do you see construction and landscape workers in pickup’s, four up front. No seat belts, cracked windshield; let alone no license, registration, or insurance. That’s a nice chunk of revenue:)
It’s ALWAYS about the revenue….