Missouri Officers Will Aggressively Enforce Seat Belt Usage This Week

Posted on April 11th, 2016 by Zane Cagle

“Click It or Ticket”

Law enforcement around Missouri will be enforcing the aggressive “click it or ticket” campaign specifically this coming Thursday.

According to surveys, people fail to buck up 20 percent of the time in Missouri which is far higher than the national average of 14 percent.

Even Though It’s The Law, Maybe You Need Further Convincing?

According to the Savemolives.com website of the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, as of April 3, 2016 there have been 202 Missouri roadway fatalities and 61 percent of those fatalities were not wearing seatbelts. Sixty-one Percent!

Actually, if you ever read the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crash reports, you can see the number of fatalities and seriously injured people who failed to wear their seatbelts and officers repeatedly remind the public that seatbelts save lives. If a vehicle flips and occupants are not wearing seatbelts, occupants are frequently thrown from the vehicle. Being thrown from a vehicle generally results in very serious injuries or death. Seat belts do not guarantee that you will not be injured in a crash, however, too many crash studies have been done verifying that serious injuries and fatalities are significantly lessoned or avoided altogether by the use of a seat belt.

High Numbers of Fatal Crashes Include Individuals Without Safety Belts

Because of the high number of people who are killed in Missouri in road way crashes and do not wear their safety belts, law enforcement is planning a saturation day in which they step up enforcement of seat belt usage. It is not all that common for officers to pull over every single person who does not have on their safety belt, however, don’t be surprised this week if you are pulled over for just that reason. Officers can see whether or not you have on a seatbelt as it crosses in front of you—gone are the days when you can claim your car only has a “lap belt.

Is Enforcement an Attempt to Gain Revenue?

Of course not. The whole purpose of officers spending a few days purposely enforcing the seat belt law is an attempt to raise awareness and make people think about the importance of wearing a seat belt in order to SAVE LIVES. Yes, they may issue tickets and that may be inconvenient for some people but far more inconvenient is a serious injury or death on your way to work!

Seriously, it is 2016—gone are the days when the seat belts are tucked down behind the seats and people just “don’t want to wear them”. Seat belts are not “kind of” important, they are critical whether you “like” to wear it or not.

Unequivocally, the statistics prove that seat belts save more lives when involved in a motor vehicle crash.

Help Make These “Click it or Ticket” Campaigns Unnecessary

Buckle up every time you get in the car and make sure all occupants, especially children are appropriately restrained. Even if you are only traveling a few blocks–buckle up.

Injures from motor vehicle incidents are often frequent and seat belts help reduce those numbers of serious injuries and in some instances, prevent death. If you’ve been involved in a motor vehicle crash and you’ve been injured, you will need legal representation. We represent those injured in car crashes.