Iowa law officers are participating in the national “Buckle Up America Campaign” beginning today (Monday). Jim Saunders is a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
Saunders says the two-week effort starts and it’s called “Click it or ticket” and it’s designed to heighten awareness of the need to wear seatbelts.
Saunders says past experience shows the importance of wearing seatbelts. He says, “The bottom line is, seatbelts save lives.” Saunders says Iowa has an 89-percent compliance rate in using seatbelts, but he says that can still improve and officers will be looking for people who aren’t buckled up.
Saunders says Memorial Day is the unofficial start to the summer driving season and that’s why they’re starting their seatbelt effort now. Saunders says there were four fatalities on the roadways during last year’s Memorial Day weekend.
The Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau says over 57-hundred people involved in Iowa crashes since 1986, have been spared death or serious injury because they wore a seat belt at the time of the crash.