The New Tazewell Police Department will be partnering with the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office for the 2016 Seat Belts Are for Everyone (SAFE) campaign, according to Chief Ben Evans.
The SAFE campaign is designed to increase seat belt and child passenger safety restraint usage in Tennessee. Law enforcement agencies participate in the campaign by planning and implementing occupant protection initiatives in their communities.
“Too many times in my law enforcement career I’ve responded to accidents with severe injuries or a fatality where a seat belt or child restraint device was not used,” said Evans. “Many of which I know had the person been properly belted in, the outcome would have been different. I’m convinced that seat belts and child restraint devices save lives. I am instructing the officers of the New Tazewell Police Department to step up the enforcement of seat belt and child restraint laws.”
This is the third year that the Governor’s Highway Safety Office has sponsored this campaign. Last year yielded the following results:
– 2,470 child restraint violations
– 33,879 seat belt citations
– 671 other seat belt enforcement activities.
“Last year, our statewide seat belt use rate dropped slightly to 86.2 percent,” said Governor’s Highway Safety Office Director Kendell Poole. “It is vitally important that all drivers and passengers buckle up every trip, every time. Our ultimate goal is that this campaign, combined with the increase of the seat belt fine, will increase our usage rate to 90 percent or higher.”
This year, participating agencies will pay special attention to night time seat belt enforcement. Tennessee has seen a disproportionate percentage of unrestrained fatalities between the hours of 6 p.m. and 5:59 a.m., Poole said. Historically, approximately 50 percent of Tennessee’s traffic fatalities are unbelted. That percentage increases to nearly 60 percent when night time crashes are examined.
The SAFE campaign will run through Aug. 1. Agencies participating in the voluntary campaign become eligible to win one of two full-equipped police vehicles at the Tennessee Law Enforcement Challenge ceremony in September.
Reach Marisa Anders at 423-254-5588 or on Twitter @newsgirl88.