Fri, Nov 21 2008
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Published May 20, 2007 12:20 am - Seat belt campaign to target pickup drivers By D. E. Smoot Phoenix Staff Writer The Muskogee Police Department is joining this week with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and other law enforcers across a five-state area to convince pickup drivers and their passengers to buckle up.
Surveys show that well more than a million people fail to regularly use safety belts while driving or riding in a pickup. Experts say the failure to buckle up has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 pickup occupants in the five-state region. Beginning Monday, local law enforcers will begin targeting pickup drivers and their passengers who fail to use seat belts. The campaign, dubbed “Buckle Up in Your Truck,” will continue through June 3 in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and the Indian Nations. “Pickups are twice as likely to roll over as passenger cars in fatal crashes,” Muskogee Police Chief Rex Eskridge said. “Nearly half the deaths in pickup crashes in the region involve a rollover, and wearing your safety belt reduces the risk of dying in a rollover by up to 80 percent.” Since the special enforcement emphasis for seat belts began in 2002, overall seat belt use is up 12.8 percent. Safety belt use in pickups in the five-state region has increased 14.4 percent. The numbers reflect an increase of about 3 million drivers and passengers who now are wearing seat belts. “There are still far too many people, regardless of the vehicle they drive, in this jurisdiction who don’t think they need to buckle up,” Eskridge said. “We want these drivers and passengers to know that far too many of our community’s caring families are risking losing a husband or wife, a father or mother, a son or daughter, simply for lack of wearing a safety belt — that’s why we’d rather write them a ticket than see someone injured or dead in a crash down the road.” The Buckle Up in Your Truck campaign is funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the safety offices of participating jurisdictions. 
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