Seat-belt laws strictly enforced

Beaver Township has one of the highest seat-belt usage rates .
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
Buckle up, or pay up.
The odds of getting a ticket for failing to wear a seat belt have increased, with some 800 law enforcement agencies throughout the state adopting zero-tolerance policies for offenders.
It used to be that each agency set its own enforcement policy, and issuing citations was at the officer's discretion, said Jeff Grayson, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
Because failing to wear a seat belt is a secondary violation, which means officers must observe another violation before making a traffic stop, many agencies issued warnings to drivers and passengers who weren't buckled up, and citations for the primary violation, he said.
Not so any more.
Beginning April 1, most of the 966 law enforcement agencies in the state signed onto the "Click It or Ticket" campaign, a national effort coordinated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
As part of the campaign, officers employed by all participating agencies agree to issue citations to everyone violating safety belt laws.
"We actually have officers sign that they won't give warnings for restraint violations, and that they will cite violators," said Carl N. Frost, chief of the Beaver Township Police Department in Mahoning County.
Beaver Township has one of the highest seat-belt usage rates in the state.
Numbers
Last year, Beaver Township police issued 527 restraint violation citations, Frost said; the number of citations issued has remained fairly constant over the past few years.
"We've received a state grant to pay for selective traffic enforcement since 1998 and have practiced zero tolerance since then, when we're working selective traffic enforcement," he explained.
In fiscal 2003, which runs from Oct. 1, 2002 through Sept. 30, 2003, Beaver Township police will work about 360 hours overtime strictly to enforce traffic laws, Frost said. "The next blitz will be from May 19 through June 1, which will cover the weekend of the Hot Rod Super Nationals."
According to the Ohio Department of Public Safety, 66 percent of drivers and front-seat passengers in Beaver Township used their safety belts in March, as did 88 percent of South Range Local High School students, Frost said.
Using safety belts improves the chances drivers and passengers will survive a crash, he said. So far this year, no one has been killed in an auto accident in Beaver Township, Frost added; last year, there was one traffic fatality and that person was not buckled up.
In Columbiana County, 18 people died in traffic crashes last year. Five of those fatal crashes involved motorcycles, said Lt. William Thompson, commander of the Ohio State Highway Patrol Lisbon post, but of the other 13 killed, more than half were not wearing safety belts.
One of the worst rates
"Columbiana County had the worst safety belt usage rate in Ohio in 2001," Thompson said: Only 57.4 percent of drivers and front-seat passengers fastened their belts.
"Our goal for this facility is zero tolerance," Thompson continued. With that in mind, he said, issuing citations to everyone who is not buckled up could help boost usage rates by 5 percent to 8 percent a year.
Last year, highway patrol officers from the Lisbon post issued 2,616 citations to drivers and front-seat passengers who weren't buckled up; they issued 3,675 in 2001.
Statewide, a campaign to increase seat-belt usage last year helped raise compliance to an all-time high of 70.3 percent, according to a Governor's Highway Safety Office observational survey.
kubik@vindy.com