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On May 19 at 10am at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, representatives from Law Enforcement Agencies from across Delmarva will gather to kick off the National Click it or Ticket Campaign to increase seat belt usage. Agencies from Queen Anne’s County to Somerset County will show their support for saving lives.
Statistics prove that the most effective way to reduce deaths and injuries on our Nation’s highways is to increase seat belt use in the daytime as well as at night. As a matter of fact, an estimated 15,383 lives were saved last year simply by buckling up.
But unfortunately, too many motorists still need a tough reminder. That’s why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is encouraging all States and local law enforcement agencies and highway safety officials to join the annual Click It or Ticket mobilization campaign which runs from May 19th - June 1st. The campaign will renew its emphasis on day and night enforcement as well as young drivers.
What’s so alarming is that motor vehicle crashes continue to be the leading cause of death for 15- to 20-year-olds in America. In fact, of the total fatalities in 2006, 5,130 were passenger vehicle occupants between the ages of 15 and 20, and 64 percent of those killed were NOT wearing their seat belts at the time of the fatal crash. That’s why law enforcement officers will be working overtime to crack down on all young drivers who are not buckling up.
Research shows that high-visibility enforcement campaigns work. This year, the campaign across the Eastern Shore, will step-up law enforcement activities and will have officers out on the streets around the clock to enforce seat belt laws and save lives.
When worn correctly, seat belts have proven to reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent – and by 60 percent in pickup trucks, SUVs, and minivans.
So unless you want to risk a ticket, or worse – your life, please remember to buckle up day and night – Click It or Ticket.
30 comments:
Why do we have laws that force people to buckle up on the road when that is a personal choice that does no harm to others, but smoking, which causes a ton more problems and affects other people just as seriously, goes unpunished? If not buckling up is illegal please explain to me why smoking is not illegal. Smoking provides income?
Just one more way for the government to interfere in our personal lives.
I completely agree that children should be secured in the back seat, but an adult should be able to make that decision for themselves. The Nanny State will capitalize on anything they can to make us think they are protecting us!
If they really cared why don't they make school buses with seat belts?
This is the most ridiculous spoon fed BS there is, 50 un-belted kids twice a day, no belt.
Same kid in your car necesitates a child seat until they are 80 pounds, give me a break.
I have to agree with Wymzie. I hate that my 7 yr old son gets on a bus and rides for 2 1/2 hours everyday with NO SEATBELT! It's insane! We have always been very adamant about wearing our seatbelts so it's confusing for him that the bus doesn't even have them! Seatbelts save lives...no matter what size your vehicle is!
countrygirl@heart
I happen to believe in this seatr belt law. I automatically put mine on when in the car or any vehicle. Yes, they should put seat belts in the school buses and that may come with new buses. The school system will complain it will cost too much, but how much does it take to save a childs life, or worse keeep them from being crippled for life. I can't agree with wymzie's view that its more government bureaucracy.
A. Goetz
I actually removed my driver's seat and replaced it with a rear-facing child safety seat. I relocated my rear view mirror over the back window. I find it much easier to drive in reverse now. Reaching the pedals and steering wheel is quite awkward, however.
I even installed after-market airbags. The only drawback with the after-market airbags is you have to inflate them with your mouth before the impact occurs in order to realize their full benefit.
I don't wear one, ain't gonna wear one and they can't make me wear one. I'll make my annual donation of $25 for their cause but I ain't wearing no steenken seatbelt.
Anon 1:57. Be carefull some insurance companies are charging more for seatbelt citations. They are treating it just like a regular ticket with points. Also I once got a 280.00 ticket for failure to obey the officers order for not wearing it after he stopped me previously. I plead not guilty but the judge found me guilty. The fine was reduced to 140.00.
I'd personally like to know why so many people are so stupid when it comes to seatbelts?
Look, they're there to save lives and lesson injury. Cars are designed today to protect those wearing seatbelts. Ever since I started this Blog and I've come upon accidents, those who dies, three or 4 just recently, dies from not using their seatbelts.
So just what is it that there are so many Dee, Dee, Deeee's, (yes, that includes you too Donna) on the Eastern Shore that refuse to wear them? What example are you setting for your children and grandchildren?
died, sorry. My message should also be extended to Wymzie too.
Another to piggy back on all this. 1) School busses do not have seat belts for several reasons:
-Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 215 does not requires belts, and retro-fitting school busses would require additional reinforcement of the floors and walls, which would add to the weight of the bus and affect diesil usage. This also limits the number of student to two per seat, and would require a second person to monitor the students for complaince (Any bus drivers on here want to provide a reason why all that is not feasable?)
-busses are big, yellow and move slower than the rest of traffic, and are less prone to crashes. Most fatalities associated with a school bus involve a pedestrian vs the bus, another car striking a student getting on/off the bus, or the driver is the only fatality. Busses also distribute the crash forces in ways that cars, and light trucks cannot, this makes the busses safer
-The seats are designed to absorb any impact by a fast moving child (The laws of physics state that an object in motion, in this case a child on a bus, will stay in motion, in the original directon until acted upon by an outside force, in this case the back of the seat in front of them.) If you look at a modern bus, they now have high seat backs, which are padded (When I was on a school bus, the seat backs had diamond plate). School bus seats are deisgned to contain a child between the seat back, of both seats and the seating area (It's called an an egg carton, or compartmentalization)
-School busses account for less than 1% of fatalities nationwide. 42,000 people die every year as a result of car crashes. An average of 6 (six, yes six) children die in school bus related crashes.
Some studies have found that seat belts on school busses could actually increase the injury rate. Since children are permitted to use a seat belt in the wrong way by their parents (e.g. shoulder belt under the armpit or behind the back), those behaviors are repeated on the bus.
Now, on to the notion that your not wearing a seat belt only impact you. Dead wrong, for the simple fact that you cannot compete with the laws of physics. If you are in your seat, and you loose control of your car, your body is being flung from sde to side, and you cannot maintain position in your seat, which is required if you want to maintain control of, say, the steering wheel, gas or brake prior to hitting my car.
On top of that, when you do hit something, you are much more likely to be injured. Which would require a trip to the emergency room, doctor's bills, and related rehab. The police have to be called to investigate the crash, as well. The medical bills are usually covered by medical or auto insurance, and the law enforcement is covered by tax money. The result is.....all of our rates go up because you chose not to wear a seat belt.
anon 3:50 If you think school buses travel slower than others on the road you've lost you mind. Years ago that was the case but follow one today and you are likely to find out how much faster they really do run. They may take longer to complete the same trip you make in a car because of all of their stops but they drive just as fast as others on the road. The reason we don't notice is because it seems we all are in a big hurry to get where we are going. I agree with other folks about being forced to wear a seat belt and do not like it, however I have paid for one violation and do not intend to pay for any more.
3:50pm...your last 2 par;s are bs...put an egg in ur shoe n beat it! Most of my driving life there were no seatbelt laws, so it's still difficult to remember to use them even though I think it's a good idea to use them. There are MANY instances where NOT wearing them have safed lives....but they'll never publish those numbers. Insurance companies hold those violations against you....because they can! Fact is...they even count against you on your motorcycle policy TOO!{that should be criminal!}
The biggest problem I have with this bs is...it should be choice! Not more gov. CONTROL! Its NOT about saving lives... it's about MONEY< the more lives saved...the more taxes raised.....the MORE tickets written....the MORE money raised, there will be WAY less taxes this year and they know it and their preping for it, they will hit harder this year than ever before, hell their talking OVERTIME to do it!
Last year...on a Sunday about noon, as I was leaving the Food Lion parking lot, I see 5 r 6 cop cars...liths flashing...I thought there had been a terrible accident...all these cars pulled over...people leaving the church...being pulled over....they must be on a man-hunt, some murderer on the loose! WRONG! They were swarming threw the neighborhoods on a SUNDAY MORNING...catching people off guard...stunning them even! They wrote me a ticket before I had left the parking lot!!! ON Private property!!!
IT'S A MONEY THING!!!
Its bad enough this law was past, taking away one more right/choice.
But this so called CAMPAIGN...simply abusing the law, to take money from the honest hard working folks that can barely make ends meet now...leaving churches and grocery stores...SHAME on YOU Lewis...and your boys!!! Your nothing more than the greedy hand of government, running your hand in our pockets like a theif, changing the attitudes of the few remaining honest families left.
Give me Liberty or give me death.
Hip.boots
Kudos, To Sheriff Lewis, I am all for it, one place they need to monitor is Pricilla St., I went to what I believe is Velero there to get Gas, " It was the cheapest in town" and why'll I waited for my child to pay inside, at least two cars pulled up were young moms had there babies, ages, 3-5 maybe younger not in any kind of restrain, car seats or seat belts, I hate not being able to say or do anything, but it gets better, there was a Salisbury Police Officer parked there and he didn't even notice, I tell you Joe, some people don't care.
Sure does seem like a good cause on the surface but they have no right to make or enforce any law designed to protect us from ourselves (to protect our kids from our negligence would be ok in my book). Stick to informational campaigns & get these "nanny state" laws off the books (helmet laws included)..
This is the issue...IF I DO NOT WANT TO WEAR MY SEATBELT I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO !!!!!
Sometimes I take a crap in the middle of the afternoon. Is this ok with the government?
My child told me he is not allowed to take a crap at school 15 minutes prior to the end of a class. If he has to crap 30 minutes prior to the end of class, he is allowed to go down the hall to use the facility. Otherwise he and the other children must wait for another 15 minutes.
I love our government. Don't you?
Anon 3:55
Who wrote the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards? The Government!
I whole heartedly believe that seat belts probably save lives.
The laws of physics dictate such rational.
However, I don't believe it is the governments job to make adults wear them. These reports are based on government data compiled by government agencies to serve government purposes.
Have you ever seen the videos of the kids on the school buses flying through the air?
Thirty pounds used to be the limit on not having to use a child safety seat, then it was Forty, then Fifty, now it's Eighty.
The word Lobbyist comes to mind when I see these things. Companies pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to bend the ear of politicians to get laws changed that benefit their company's bottom line. This shift in the weight limits makes me think that car seat companies aren't making enough money.
Kind of like when Dupont decided they weren't making enough money and decided that they could conduct a study to show that our old freon caused holes in our atmosphere, but they just happened to have a new freon that wouldn't do that, and all the older cars air conditionings would have to be retrofitted and all of the new refrigerators and household air conditioners would have to be made using the new freon.
The bottom line is money, always has been and always will be. The government doesn't give a rip about you or your family, they only want your money.
You can pretend that they do if it will make you feel better, but they really don't.
They are simply building their beaucracy to justify their jobs
I don't have a problem with wearing seat belts and I think they are a good idea. I do have a problem with the state of MD or DE telling me you must wear one. No exceptions, no grace. They are tougher on seat belt violations than they are on speeding. Speeding is a much bigger problem for public safety than seat belts. Get tough on speeders. Major on majors, not minors.
I agree Wymzie. I absolutely positively 100% know, without any question at all that seat belts save lives. I also believe that anyone over the age of 18 should have the right to make their own choices. Children - law should apply. No question. But adults? It's not about public safety. It's about generating revenue. If the law makers were truly trying to save lives, they would outlaw cigarettes. They kill more people every year than all the wars in which our nation has been involved. More proof that its about money.
I'm definitely not in favor of the govt. outlawing cigarettes. I just feel that they have put themselves in the business of legislating common sense - so long as it keeps the money coming in.
Wymzie,
I agree with some of your comments. Yes, the government did develop FMVSS. Those regulations cover a huge variety of safety standards.....from seat belt performance standards, to car seat performance standards, right down to the number of orange lenses on the rear of the vehicle. The regulations, were in all liklihood, promulgated by a beauracrat in DC, using data from NHTSA data, and IIHS data to a lesser extent.
However, the seat belt laws fall in to the catagory of laws that were set down because somepeople needed to be saved from themselves. I have seen, first hand, the damage sustained by a human body as a result of the poor decisions made by an adult, often with fatal consequences. I have no doubt that by me saying/typing these things, I will not change your mind. I can only offer my personal insite in to this area.
I have seen the videos of kids on busses. I have also seen passengers ejected from their vehicle, and subequently crushed because of their decisions. I tended to one as she died after just such an incident.
Now, the issue of money. Yes, lobbyist exist on both sides of these debates (esp. the helmet laws debate). Not so much on the car seat issue, simce most agree car seat for children are good. But most of the people arguing for higher weight limits are the advocates, as well as the manufacturers. Having been a government employee, and a strong advocate for occupant protection, I take strong exception to your assertion that the government does not care. There are scores of people at the federal and state level, spending millions on public education and information campaigns to encourage not only seat belts, but also drinking and driving, speeding, pedestrian safety, and distracted driving. I always did, and I always will care about the safety of the community and citizens around me.
Sometimes, the only way to effect change is to sanction people in such a way as to make it easier for them to make the better decision.
If you choose to not wear a seat belt, feel free to do so. Just do us all a favor, please be sure to mark "YES" next "organ donor", and carry a list of your next of kin. It streamlines the process.
1 more thing, if it was a revenue generating source, don't you think that the fine would be a bit more than $25? I mean hell, failing to notify MVA within 30 days of a name change is a $50, and failing to affix a front tag is also $50, and spped 1-9mph over the posted speed limit is $80. So it cannot be just about money
Granddad,
Look at prohibition, it is yet another example. By prohibiting the sale of alcohol by small independent distilleries around the country it in turn put them out of business.
After they were mostly all gone a small group of investors went throughout our land and bought them all up. Friends of Congressmen and Senators they were.
If they could do the same with pot we would be buying it in packs.
If the government gave sh*t, they wouldn't allow the sale of Crisco, margerine, or Splenda.
Lobbyist, lobbyist, lobbyist.
Bovine Growth Hormone is the now on the radar for the early puberty of our youth, and the high rates of diabetes in them as well.
Monsanto, has screwed with almost all the seeds which we use to grow our foods, and open pollinated plants are harder and harder to find. Monsanto is huge and becoming the Corporate monster that will decide who eats and who doesn't.
It is all so much BS, that to think for a moment that they are the least bit concerned about us is nothing more than mental masturbation.
I agree with Wymzie, If someone, over 21, wants to take the chance and not wear a seatbelt that's their business. I wear mine but that's my personal decision.
Instead of looking for seatbelt violators they need to crack down on agreesive drivers and speeders!!
Drive up and down RT 13 and Rt 50 for a week, it's taking your life in your hands! Even Salisbury's "Finest" don't understand speed limits. They pass me 4 out of 5 times a week going at least 10 miles over the speed limit.(and they aren't on a call).
Anon:
I believe that our country is made up of many individuals who do care deeply about the job that they perform, but unfortunately, I think the bigger picture past the cog in the wheel just doesn't give a rip.
I've lived inside the beltway, and been involved in politics and have seen the cold hearted self serving bastards at their game.
I wear my seatbelt when I'm in heavy traffic driving the freeway's of Southern Californian, and the beltway around our nations capital.
If someone is being an ass on 13 sometimes I put it on as well.
Yes, I am an organ donor, and I also have a convertable, and never ride or drive in it without one, and a roll bar.
Anon 10:16 said
"However, the seat belt laws fall in to the catagory of laws that were set down because somepeople needed to be saved from themselves."
While I certainly respect your right to your opinion, I simply cannot respect any law that is born of the mindset that it is the right of ANY govt. to create laws to save people from themselves. The next step was for certain govts. to ban the use of certain oils for frying. It's another step down the road to the complete elimination of individual freedoms and another example of how we are quickly returning to a govt. in which the oppressive nature of overbearing laws and taxes greatly resemble those which our nation rebelled against in 1776.
Wear them if you want to, pay the fine if your caught without it. I agree all kids should be restrained, they can be a great distraction to a driver if they are not. Then there are those on cell phones with kids unrestrained. Now those should be arrested and charged with neglect, forget the seat belt violation, hit them hard.
Wymzie, I5 and the DC Beltway have nothing on that mess going into Atlanta. I'd rather drive the Cross Bronx Expressway than drive around Atlanta at any time of day or night. Even I buckle up down there.
Why do so many people believe the government has to "protect us"? What happened to liberty in this country? Our government is attacking us! Wake up.
I smell another tea party brewin'!!
Honest hard working folks will soon have had enough of this crap. This law was enacted mainly with the insurance industry pushing it. What ever they want they get.
To all the dee dee dees on this blog, complaining about having to wear seatbelts:
It is a known fact that it also saves..not just you life but others too! For example.. my grandfather believed in his right not to wear a seatbelt, my dad who was driving, got into an accident, my grandfather flew into the front seat nearly killing my brother! Now my brother is crippled for life, all because of my grandfathers stupidity! So think of all the other people in the car with you, or the emotional damage it could do to someone who drives up to an accident and sees the ghore you have left behind because you refuse to wear it!
The fine should go up for the idiots who simply refuse to wear their seatbelts!
To anon 1:25.
That's probably the only viable excuse to the seatbelt mandate. But if Im alone - leave me alone. No excuse exists. Don't tread on me!
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