The Bradley County Sheriff’s Office will be partnering with the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office for the 2016 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 participate in the campaign by planning and implementing occupant protection initiatives in their communities.
Bradley County Sheriff Eric Watson said seatbelt and child restraint usage save lives. “It’s of great importance that the driving public realize that wearing your seat belt and correctly using child restraint devices in vehicles is not only the law, but is a life-saver. We take wearing your seat belt and making sure your children are restrained very seriously.”
This is the third year that the Governor’s Highway Safety Office has sponsored this campaign.
Last year yielded the following results:
*2,470 child restraint violations
*33,879 seat belt citations
*671 other seat belt enforcement activities
Officials said last year in Tennessee, seat belt usage dropped slightly to 86.6%. This year, the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office will pay special attention to nighttime seat belt enforcement.
Tennessee has seen a disproportionate percentage of unrestrained fatalities in overnight hours. Historically, some 50% of Tennessee’s traffic fatalities are unbelted. That percentage climbs to nearly 60% when nighttime crashes are examined.
The SAFE campaign runs until Aug. 1.
The Bradley County Sheriff’s Office will utilize the Public Safety Unit as well as Patrol Division deputies to insure citizens wear their seat belts and children are safely restrained as well.