Buckle up for Safety!

2012 Click It or Ticket to Boost Seat Belt Use – Day and Night

From the Botetourt View:  Several accidents recently including the fatalities on US 220 in Boones Mill over the week end and the wreck in Fincastle on Monday afternoon, had victims who were not wearing seat belts. The following press release came from the BCSD this morning.”

Sheriff R. N. Sprinkle advises motor vehicle occupants who travel through Botetourt County who refuse to wear their seat belts-beware. The 2012 national Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization kicks off May 21 to help save lives by cracking down on those who don’t buckle up.

The Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office is joining with other state and local law enforcement officers and highway safety advocates across the country to help save more lives by strongly enforcing all traffic laws, especially seat belt laws around the clock.

While Virginia’s seat belt use rate increased slightly to 81.8% up from 80.5% in 2010, there is still much work to be done. According to the DMV Highway Safety Office’s TREDS (Traffic Records Electronic Data System) in preliminary 2011 statistics, there were a total of 765 fatalities-306 of them were unrestrained at the time of the crash. Of the total unrestrained fatalities (306), 93 or 30.39% of them were between the hours of Midnight-6:00AM with 69.89% or 65 of those 93 between midnight and 3:00AM.

Botetourt County automobile crashes were as follows:

(2004-643)

(2005-765)

(2006-686)

(2007-700)

(2008-674)

(2009-554)

(2010-626)

(2011-648)

For more information visit www.dmvnow.com/highwaysafety

“Seat belt use is just too important to ignore”, said Sheriff Sprinkle, “We want to stress that regularly wearing your seat belt is effective against serious injury and death.” Sheriff Sprinkle added, “Our goal is to save more lives, and The Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office will be out enforcing ALL traffic laws including seat belt use around the clock.”

Regular seat belt use saves thousands of lives across Virginia each year. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics show that in 2010 alone, seat belts saved an estimated 272 lives in Virginia. An additional 112 lives could be saved with 100 percent seat belt use.

While this year’s Click It or Ticket enforcement mobilization runs from May 21-June3, motorists should know that officers are out enforcing traffic laws, including seat belt laws year-round.

Lieutenant Jeff Stritesky, Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office