Law enforcement will be out in full force March 15 -31 to help improve teen seat belt use and save lives.
Is your seat belt on? Seat Belt Check! Buckle Up! This year’s campaign theme, “Seat Belt Check!” reminds us to hold each other accountable and make a seat belt check before the car starts. Wearing a seat belt is your best defense in a traffic crash so make sure you and everyone in your vehicle are buckled up. Everyone, every trip, every time.
“A car crash poses the single greatest threat to injuring or killing our youth, yet only 74% of Missouri’s teens buckle up” said Jon Nelson, MoDOT assistant to the state highway safety and traffic engineer. “We hope through a combination of statewide education and enforcement efforts, we can really drive the message home. Driving or riding without a seat belt is simply not worth the risk of interrupting all there is to enjoy about being a teenager.”
The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety wants to remind teens how dangerous a car ride can be if they don’t take wearing their seat belt seriously. Consider some of the reasons you should choose to wear your seat belt:
- Under Missouri’s Graduated License Law, permit drivers and all passengers must wear seat belts.
- Of the 56 teenagers killed in Missouri traffic crashes in 2019, 44 were vehicle occupants and 33 of them (79%) were not buckled up.
- When properly used, seat belts reduce the risk of fatal injuries to front-seat passenger vehicle occupants by 45% and reduce the risk of moderate-to-critical injuries by 50%.
With no primary seat belt law or all-driver texting ban in Missouri, teens and all motorists are asked to personally take the challenge to Buckle Up Phone Down. Make sure you and your passengers are buckled up and put your cell phone down.
For more information on teen seat belt safety and Buckle Up Phone Down, visit saveMOlives.com, or find us on social media at Save MO Lives. #BUPD
