The Alexandria Police Department 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 by planning and implementing occupant protection initiatives in their communities.
Last year, Tennessee reached it 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 Officer 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
Chief Mark Collins says the Alexandria Police Department is pleased to support the Safe program in Alexandria, to insure the safety of our citizens. Chief Collins says proper Seat Belt and Child Restraint use is vital to reducing injuries and fatalities in crashes.
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 at speeds 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.
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