Linn County Sheriff Jim Yon is reminding drivers of the importance of seat belt use as the Memorial Day holiday approaches, and plans to put additional deputies on the road, through the holiday, to spot drivers who aren’t complying.
April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. This annual campaign is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s national Click It or Ticket high-visibility enforcement effort that runs from May 20 to June 2, 2019. Aimed at enforcing seat belt use to help keep families safe, the national seat belt campaign runs concurrent with the busy travel season.
Using Oregon Department of Transportation grant funds, additional deputies will be on the road looking for those who are not wearing their seatbelts.
“We cannot overstate the importance of wearing a seat belt.” Yon said. “It’s the law, but it’s more than that: By far, buckling up is the simplest thing you can do to limit injury or save your life during a crash. We see the results of not wearing a seat belt all the time. We see the loss of life. So often, it could have been prevented with the simple click of a seat belt.”
“Click It or Ticket isn’t about citations; it’s about saving lives,” Yon said, noting that in 2017, 10,076 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants were killed in crashes in the United States. Among young adults 18 to 34 killed in crashes in 2017, more than half (57 percent) were completely unrestrained—one of the highest percentages for all age groups.