The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Community Action Target Team, will be participating in “Click it or Ticket Seat Belt Safety Campaign.” Beginning Monday, May 19th and extending through Sunday, June 1st, law enforcement agencies throughout Oregon will use federally funded enforcement hours to educate the public about safety belt and child seat laws including a law passed in 2017 increasing safety for children under age two.
- Motor vehicle crashes are the leading nationwide cause of death for children ages one through twelve years old. In 2022, 1,697 children under twelve were injured in Oregon traffic crashes, 16 percent were reported not using a child restraint system. It is estimated that car seats may increase crash survival by 71% for infants under one year old and by up to 59% for toddlers aged one to four. Booster seats may reduce the chance of nonfatal injury among four to eight year years of age by 45% compared to safety belts used alone.
- Of the 23,959 passenger vehicle occupants killed in the United States in 2023, nearly 50% of those killed were not buckled.
- In 2017 an Oregon law was passed requiring children to ride in a rear-facing safety seat until they are at least two years old. A child over age two must continue to ride in a car seat with harness or in a booster until they reach age eight or 4’ 9” in height and the adult belt fits them correctly.
- The 2017 law, which extends the rear-facing requirement from the previous age one to age two, will better protect the child’s head, neck, and spine from potential crash injuries. This is because a rear-facing seat spreads crash forces evenly across the seat and child’s body while also limiting forward or sideways motion of the head.
- Seat belts are the best defense against impaired, aggressive, and distracted drivers. Being buckled up during a crash helps keep you safe and secure inside your vehicle; being completely ejected from a vehicle is almost always deadly.
- For help selecting or installing child car seats, consult the seat manufacturer’s instructions, your vehicle owner’s manual, or visit a local child seat fitting station listed at: https://www.nhtsa.gov/equipment/car-seats-and-booster-seats#inspection-inspection
Crook County Sheriff’s Office is also planning to step up enforcement:
“Our goal is to see seat belt use to be an automatic habit for drivers and passengers alike. It’s not just a safe thing to do — it’s the law. Buckling up is the simplest thing you
can do to limit injury or save your life during a crash. We see the results of not wearing a seat belt all the time. We see the loss of life. So often, it could have been prevented.
The national seat belt use rate in 2023 was 91.2%, which is good — but it can be better.
The other 8.8% still need to be reminded that seat belts save lives. One of the focuses of the Click It or Ticket campaign is nighttime enforcement. NHTSA data shows a higher
number of unrestrained passenger vehicle occupant fatalities happen at night.
If the enforcement effort alerts people to the dangers of unrestrained driving, we’ll consider our mission to be a success. If you know a friend or a family member who does not buckle up when they drive, please ask them to consider changing their habits.
Help us spread this lifesaving message before one more friend or family member is killed as a result of not buckling up. Seat belts save lives, and everyone — front seat and back, child and adult — needs to remember to buckle up.”
For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.