Springfield, TN, February 23, 2015– The Robertson County Sheriff’s Office will be partnering with the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office for the 2015 Seatbelts Are For Everyone (SAFE) campaign. The SAFE campaign is designed to increase seat belt and child passenger safety restraint usage in Tennessee. Law enforcement agencies are encouraged to participate in the campaign by planning and implementing occupant protection initiatives in their communities.
Last year, Tennessee reached its highest seat belt use rate in history at 87.71%. “We are excited to see that more people are making the right choice to buckle their seat belt,” said Governor’s Highway Safety Office Director Kendell Poole. “However, historically we’ve seen that approximately fifty percent of our fatalities statewide are unrestrained. This shows us that we still have work to do. Partnering with law enforcement to back up our educational messages is the best way for us to achieve additional increases in seat belt use.”
This is the second year that the Governor’s Highway Safety Office has sponsored this campaign. Last year yielded the following results:
- 1,718 child restraint violations
- 30,147 seat belt citations
- 773 other seat belt enforcement activities
“We are proud to team up with the Governor’s Highway Safety Office and be a part of the SAFE campaign,” said Sheriff Bill Holt. “The goal is to save lives by encouraging everyone to wear their seat belt. There has been a lot of progress made and more people are wearing their seat belts. But, any life lost is unacceptable due to not wearing your seat belt. So, please encourage your family and friends to wear their seat belt, and listen to them when they encourage you to do it as well.”
It is vitally important that all drivers and passengers buckle up every trip, every time. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, most fatal crashes happen within 25 miles from home and at speeds of less than 40 miles per hour.
The SAFE campaign will be ongoing now through July 31st. Agencies participating in the voluntary campaign become eligible to win one of two fully-equipped police vehicles at the Tennessee Law Enforcement Challenge in August.