by William Crum
Kansas officials want to remind you that you can save a life if you wear your seat belt. The reminder will be stronger starting on May 22, when state and local officers will give out tickets in a statewide seat belt crackdown campaign.
A “Click It Or Ticket” crackdown on motorists not wearing seat belt is being announced today.
A news conference is being held today at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, on the seat belt problem. The state of Kansas ranks near the bottom one-third for seat-belt usage in the United States. The national average for seat belt use is 90 percent, while in Kansas, the average in 2017 was 82 percent, according to a Kansas Department of Transportation news release.
State and local law enforcement will be stepping up enforcement of the seat belt laws in a “Click It Or Ticket” campaign from May 21 to June 3.
There will be “no excuses” for not wearing a seat belt during this time. More than 150 law enforcement agencies plan to participate as part of a national campaign during the Memorial Day weekend, one of the busiest travel weekends.
Trooper Ben Gardner said this campaign is intended to save lives.
“We would be grateful if every occupant we observed was wearing their seat belt,” Gardner said. Wearing a seat belt is the easiest thing one can do to save a life, he added.
Almost half of the 359 crash deaths in 2017 in Kansas involved persons who were not wearing seat belts, according to officials. The number is higher – 56 percent – among young adults. The number is higher among 18-to-34-year-old pickup truck drivers and rural drivers.
“Seat belts save lives every day,” said Chris Bortz, Kansas Department of Transportation traffic safety program manager. “Our goal is 100 percent compliance. It doesn’t matter where you go, drivers need to buckle up for every ride, every time because a deadly crash can happen to anyone.”
