With summertime and vacation plans kicking off, there will be an increase of vehicles on the roads and we want to ensure everyone is as safe as possible on the roadways. That is why we are participating in the national Click It or Ticket campaign which begins on Monday (May 22) and ends on Sunday, June 4. These dates include Memorial Day which is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
“Every day, unbuckled motorists are losing their lives in motor vehicle crashes,” said Captain Kevin Russell. “As we approach Memorial Day weekend and the summer vacation season, we want to make sure people are doing the one thing that can save them in a crash, buckling up.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half of the 22,441 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2015 were not wearing their seatbelt. In contrast, 13,941 people were saved by wearing their seatbelt in 2015. A recent survey conducted by the Benton Police Department shows the seatbelt usage in Benton is at 87 percent. This is a high percentage, but it is still below the national average which is at 90 percent.
In Arkansas, 59% of deaths related to crashes were individuals who were unbelted vehicle occupants (2010). Also, three out of 4 Arkansas teens aged 16-20 killed in a car crash were not wearing a seat belt. Almost twice as many males were killed in crashes as compared to females, with lower belt use rates, too. Of the males killed in crashes in 2013, more than half (54%) were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 41 percent were not buckled up. (NHTSA)
“If you ask the family members of those unrestrained people who were killed in crashes, they’ll tell you—they wish their loved ones had buckled up,” Russell said. “The bottom line is that seat belts save lives. If these enforcement crackdowns get people’s attention, and get them to buckle up, then we’ve done our job.”
For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot
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