Law enforcement be watching as motorists take to the roads to celebrate the long Memorial Day weekend.
Motorists who refuse to wear their seat belts will be the target of a annual campaign aimed to reduce highway fatalities across the nation. The Meade County Sheriff’s Department is joining the 2017 national Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization beginning on May 22 to help save lives by cracking down on those who don’t buckle up.
Chief Deputy Jason Graham said, “We want to ensure that everyone arrives at their destination safe and sound.” Graham said deputies will be out around the clock prepared to ticket anyone not wearing a seat belt.
There were 761 total highway fatalities in Kentucky in 2015, with 588 killed in motor vehicles. Of those 588 fatalities, 300 or 61 percent, were not wearing a seat belt. Chief Deputy Graham said, “Too many people are dying on our roads and many of those lives could have been saved with the simple snap of a seat belt, or by placing a child in a car seat or booster.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, booster seats lower the risk of injury to children by 60 percent compared to the use of seat belts alone.
Kentucky’s booster seat law was enhanced in 2015 to increase the height requirement to 57 inches and the age requirement to 8 years old. Children younger than 8 but taller than 57 inches will not have to ride in a booster seat.
Kentucky’s seat belt usage rate increased with the passage of the primary law from 67.2 percent in 2006 to 86.7 percent in 2015, which is still below the national usage rate of 88.5 percent.
You must be logged in to post a comment.