The latest edition of the national Click It or Ticket seat belt high-visibility enforcement effort begins today and runs through the Memorial Day weekend to June 4th, although Nebraska’s formal kickoff will be tomorrow morning at State Patrol headquarters.
The Chadron Police Department is among the dozens of local law enforcement agencies across the state receiving grants from the Nebraska Dept of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office to help cover overtime costs of having more officers on the road.
Sgt Mark Cloyd is coordinating the Chadron grant and says Nebraska has one of the lowest rates of seat belt use in the country, even though drivers and passengers are 45% more likely to survive a crash if wearing a seat belt.
Sgt Cloyd says Chadron officers will be working with their fellow officers across the country to ensure the message gets out that not only is buckling up the simplest thing to do to limit injury or save a life in a crash, it’s also the law.
Isn’t safety belts a secondary offence where the officer must stop you for something else first? And why isn’t this being enforced on the regular shifts?
Good questions, Don.
I’ve been driving before seat belts were installed in vehicles!!!! I THINK IT SHOULD BE A PERSON RIGHT, IF THEY CHOOSE TO USE SEAT BELTS OR NOT !!!! I find them too restraining and uncomfortable !!!