Safe & Sober focus on seat belts
Posted 11/20/02

Officers from the Minnesota State Patrol will put in extra enforcement hours for a Safe & Sober campaign focusing on seat belt enforcement over the Thanksgiving holiday travel period. During the enforcement wave, between Nov. 21 and Dec. 1, troopers in all seven counties within the Brainerd State Patrol District will buckle down on unbuckled vehicle occupants.

Officers from more than 350 local law enforcement agencies and troopers from every part of the state will put in extra hours enforcing Minnesotaís occupant restraint laws. Minnesota law requires all front-seat occupants be seat belted, as well as occupants under the age of 11 seated anywhere in the vehicle. In addition, children under the age of four must be secured in a safety seat that meets federal safety standards.

Spurred on by success of the May Mobilization, the Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) is gearing up for another massive seat belt enforcement wave. Last May, Minnesota experienced the largest statewide law enforcement blitz in its history. Minnesotaís overall seat belt use has increased from 74 percent last year to a record-high 80 percent based on observational studies conducted in August.

According to State Patrol Lt. Amy Stanfield, this focus on seat belt usage is critical. In 2001, 317 people who died in crashes were not wearing seat belts. Statistics show that probably half of them would have survived had they been buckled up. Stanfield said, "Statistics like these should be alarming to our motoring public. People need to respond to this by wearing their seat belts all of the time. For every percentage point Minnesota raises its belt use rate, approximately four lives are spared and 81 injuries are prevented annually."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has called for every state to execute this mobilization to increase seat belt use. The Safe & Sober campaign is funded by NHTSA and administered by OTS.