Kansas law enforcement agencies will specifically enforce seat belt usage in school zones. The Saline County Sheriff’s Office is one of the agencies taking part in the initiative, which takes place October 30th through November 3rd.

“In the health field, they talk about making sure children have received their immunizations to prevent deadly diseases,” said Sheriff Soldan. “But what many parents don’t think about is that wearing a seatbelt properly is the best prevention of serious injury or death in a vehicle.”

According to the 2017 Kansas observational seatbelt survey, children are much more likely to be buckled up if the driver is wearing their seatbelt. If the driver is buckled, about 98% of the children are restrained. If the driver is not buckled, only about 29% of the observed children were buckled. We want adults to model good driving behaviors for children.

From Monday October 30 through Friday November 3, law enforcement across Kansas will be extra-vigilant when patrolling around schools. For more than 20 years, officers have educated and warned drivers and passengers regarding the importance of using seatbelts while in their vehicle.

There should be no surprises when it comes to this enforcement effort. Officers will issue citations to anyone who does not obey Kansas law.

Soldan says, “Even one child’s death is unacceptable. Please slow down, especially in school zones, eliminate the distractions, and always buckle up.”

Officers will issue tickets to anyone who is not buckled up. Last year, 44 children in Kansas died in crashes and nearly half of the victims were not wearing their seat belts.

Copyright © Rocking M Media, 2017. All Rights Reserved. No part of this story or website may be reproduced without Rocking M Media’s express consent.