FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE INFORMATION OFFICER:

May 1, 2006 Lt. Wm. Funkhouser

(314) 442-2076

Regional Campaign to Increase Safety Belt Use

The Creve Coeur Police Department will be participating in a regional campaign to raise public awareness to the need for safety belt usage. The enforcement effort will begin May 7 and continue through June 4. The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, state and local law enforcement, and highway safety partners from Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska will all be participating in an aggressive new public awareness initiative called Buckle Up In Your Truck.

“Pickup truck drivers and their passengers are least likely to buckle up,” said Leanna Depue, director of highway safety for the Missouri Department of Transportation. “Seventy-six percent of the people who died in pickup truck crashes last year were not wearing their safety belt. Our goal is to save more lives.”

Drivers and passengers in pickup trucks in Missouri have a much lower safety belt usage rate than the occupants of other vehicles. In 2005, the observed safety belt use rate in pickup trucks was only 66 percent compared to nearly 80 percent in passenger cars and 82 percent in vans and SUVs.

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