Motorists reminded to buckle up, enforcement heightened through Memorial Day

Motorists who refuse to wear their seat belts – beware. The Stanford Police Department is joining the 2017 national Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization on May 22 to help  save lives by cracking down on those who don’t buckle up.

“As motorists take to the roads to celebrate the long Memorial Day weekend, we want to ensure that everyone arrives at their destination safe and sound,” Chief Zach Middleton said. “We’ll be out in force – day and night – prepared to ticket anyone not wearing a seat belt.”

There were 761 total highway fatalities in Kentucky in 2015, with 588 killed in motor vehicles. Of those 588 fatalities, 300 (61 percent) were not wearing a seat belt.

“There are too many people dying on our roads,” Chief Middleton said. “Many of those lives could have been saved with the simple snap of a seat belt, or by placing a child in a car seat or booster.”

Also according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, booster seats lower the risk of injury to children by 60 percent compared to the use of seat belts alone.

Kentucky’s booster seat law was enhanced in 2015 to increase the height requirements to 57 inches and the age requirement to eight years old. Children younger than eight but taller than 57 inches will not have to ride in a booster seat.

Kentucky’s seat usage rate increased with the passage of the primary law from 67.2 percent in 2006 to 86.7 percent in 2015. However, this is still below the national usage rate of 88.5.

For more on the national Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.