SATURDAY CHECKS PROMOTE SEAT BELT AWARENESS; BUCKLE UP AND AVOID SUMMERTIME BLUES

Prepare for a traffic ticket Saturday afternoon if you're driving along Mt. Auburn Road at Independence without your seat belt on or your child in a restraint seat.

Don't lose your nerve though. It will only be a fake ticket offered in conjunction with the Safety Check and Awareness Fair put on by Cape Girardeau police and the Cape Girardeau Community Traffic Safety program.

No motorists will receive actual citations for any protection violations.

The fair will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of Boatmen's Bank, 2 South Mt. Auburn Road. Its goal is to increase seat belt awareness and raise seat belt use.

The traffic safety program's coordinator, Sharee Galnore, said the fair ties in with the traffic safety programs of "Operation Buckle Down" and "Buckle Up, Avoid the Summertime Blues."

"This is something new that they're starting across the state," Galnore said, "so other safety checks will be happening. `Buckle Up, Avoid the Summertime Blues' is a national campaign and we're one of the first (communities) to kick it off in the state of Missouri."

Vehicles will be detoured off Mt. Auburn Road into the bank's parking lot, she said. Seat belt checks will be made in the bank's upper lot.

In the lower lot behind the bank, Galnore said, will be displays by the city's two hospitals, the Cape County Private Ambulance Service, the traffic safety program, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

Vince and Larry, the nationally-known crash test dummies, will be at the fair with a wrecked car. Fairgoers will have the opportunity to have their pictures taken with the dummies.

Also featured will be an ambulance, a police car, and a fire rescue truck. Cape Girardeau radio station K-103 FM will broadcast live from the site.

"Everyone who comes through will get to draw for prizes," said Galnore. Also, a grand prize drawing will be held for a get-away weekend for four to Lodge of the Four Seasons at Lake of the Ozarks. The package offers two nights with lake view lodging, an activity pass to all recreational facilities, and $150 cash.

Sgt. Carl Kinnison with the Cape Girardeau Police Department said the fake traffic tickets explain to motorists why it's important they wear seat belts. The tickets, he said, are copied from an actual traffic ticket and read, "Buckle Up, Avoid the Summertime Blues."

"Getting people to buckle their seat belts is one of the most effective things we can do to protect them from harm," said Kinnison. "I didn't make that up. That comes directly from the ticket we're giving out."

Drivers who come through the safety check with their seat belt on will get a travel mug, he said. The first 50 children who come through properly buckled will get a stuffed animal seat belt safety guard.

Galnore said the guard either a koala, kodiak bear, or puppy keeps a seat belt from rubbing against a child.

The fair is being held to try to raise seat belt usage to 70 percent by the end of this year, said Galnore. The 70 percent goal was set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Missouri Division of Highway Safety.

On Monday, the first of eight seat belt use observation surveys in Cape Girardeau was done. The surveys will be done until November, said Galnore.

She said a Cape Girardeau police officer would observe drivers and front seat passengers for seat belt use. An observation survey in Cape Girardeau in January, she said, found 61 percent usage.

To help raise seat belt use to 70 percent, Kinnison said, Cape Girardeau police officers are going to be encouraged to write more tickets for seat belt violations. The increase in enforcement, he said, will take place on an everyday basis, "particularly this summer."

"That's what they mean by `Avoid the Summertime Blues,'" he said, referring to the national seat belt campaign and the blue uniform of a police officer.

Kinnison said almost $6 billion was spent nationwide in 1990 to care for traffic crash victims, with $2 billion of that coming from government sources such as Medicare and Medicaid.

That same year about 360,000 traffic crash victims were hospitalized across the nation, he said. The average cost for a victim's hospital stay and follow-up care averaged $18,790, said Kinnison.

The safety fair's sponsors are Boatmen's, K-103 FM, and Cape Girardeau radio station KZIM.