Dexter PD to join safety belt crackdown

DEXTER, Mo. - The Dexter Police Department will be joining with other law enforcement agencies in an aggressive mobilization to crack down on Missouri's safety belt violators during Occupant Protection Enforcement Day May 15. The purpose of the state campaign is to reduce highway fatalities.

Assistant Police Chief Sammy Stone said the Dexter Police Department will conduct normal patrols from May 15-21 with an emphasis on enforcing safety belt usage. Nearly one in four Missourians still fail to regularly wear their safety belts. Stone said that as of May 8, a total of 209 people had died in traffic accidents in the state this year.

Among those least likely to buckle up are young males, pickup truck drivers and their passengers, people who live in rural areas and night-time drivers. In March Dexter Police took part in a state effort to educate teens on the necessity of wearing safety belts. Police concentrated on making sure that teen drivers were using their safety belts.

"The highest percentage of drivers not wearing safety belts is teenage drivers," Stone said.

Failure to regularly wear a safety belt can be deadly, Stone said. In 2007, a driver in a Missouri crash had a one in 32 chance of being killed if they were not wearing a safety belt. In cases where the driver wore a seat belt, their chance of being killed was one in 1,294.

Stone added that if drivers and passengers saw what law enforcement encountered regularly when investigating accidents, "they would wear that safety belt."

Currently, there is a legislative proposal to give law enforcement the power to stop motorists who are not using a safety belt. Law enforcement can now issue citations for not using safety belts only if the motorist is pulled over for another violation.

Stone said the city police department is not trying to penalize motorists or passengers during this campaign, but rather "encourage them to use seat belts."

The Dexter Police Department will be working in conjunction with the State Patrol on May 1-3 to crack down on drinking and driving. DPD will participate in a "DWI saturation check" during those days.