Buckle Up For The New Year
Sacramento, CA — The CHP has secured a seat belt grant to help save lives. In 2013, California had a 97.4% seat belt use rate, one of the highest in the nation. The CHP wants to increase that rate through education and enforcement with its “Vehicle Occupant Restraint Education and Instruction III” program. The California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has funded the grant to pay for the program.
“Every day, someone is killed in a collision simply because they were not properly secured in their vehicle,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Seat belts save lives, and our goal through this campaign is to ensure that every person traveling on California’s roadways is buckled up and protected in their vehicle.”
According to the most recent data available from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System, 27% of the people killed in collisions in California in 2011 were not properly restrained. Of the 434 people killed that year, more than 8,000 others were injured in crashes where seat belts were not worn.
The CHP instruction programs include plans to inspect a minimum of 12,250 child safety seats; conduct 50 child passenger safety educational classes; and purchase and distribute 2,500 grant-funded child safety seats to people in need. Those activities will be done by local CHP units across the state throughout 2014.
