Seatbelts are for Everyone: Enforcement campaign underway

The Baxter Springs Police Department and Pittsburg Police Department remind you to buckle up and arrive alive.

Beginning Monday, February 26 through March 8 if you choose not to wear your seat belt be prepared to be pulled over.

The two departments will join other law enforcement agencies in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma with increased enforcement near high schools to raise awareness on roadway safety.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens (15-18 years old) in the United States - ahead of all other types of injury, disease, or violence.

"Even one death is unacceptable," Police Chief Brent Narges says. "Please slow down, put the phone away or turn it off, and always buckle up."

Kansas seat belt laws are primary for drivers and front seat passengers and secondary for rear seat passengers. They cover drivers, as well as passengers aged 14 and older in all seats.

Child restraint laws require that all children aged 7 and under be buckled in a car seat or booster seat.

Laws are similar in other states.

For up-to-date information on laws in your state, check with the Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety at www.iihs.org.

FAST FACTS • Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death for people aged 1-54 in the United States. • Wearing seat belts and properly buckling children into age- and size-appropriate car seats and booster seats can reduce the risk for serious injury and death in a crash by at least half. • Although most drivers and passengers in the United States follow these safety measures on every trip, millions still don’t.