Tallahassee is Buckling Up for Border to Border Campaign
Photo by Giulia Marisco
Tallahassee locals buckling up to stay stafe during Memorial Day weekend.
By Giulia Marisco
Outlook Writer
Tallahassee is joining in the Border to Border campaign to help remind motorists the importance of safety belts.
The Border to Border campaign, which began on May 18 and will end on May 31, was initiated by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Border to Border is in conjunction with the traditional campaign, Click It or Ticket, which focuses on seatbelt safety during Memorial Day. Not only is wearing a seatbelt incredibly important when driving, but making sure it is functional and safe is an essential part of that too. If a seatbelt looks old and worn, it must get changed. Looking into Seat Belt Webbing Replacement products and seeing which one would be best, can help drivers remain safe on the roads and strapped in.
Memorial Day is considered one of the most dangerous holidays to be on the road due to people traveling long distances to visit family members, high-traffic jams and alcohol consumption.
“Drunk driving deaths spike during the holidays. Every 51 minutes, someone in the United States dies in an alcohol-impaired-driving crash. Be responsible – don’t drink and drive. If you plan to drink, choose a sober designated driver before going out,” said Carmen Hayes, The National Highway Traffic Safety Region 4 administrator from Atlanta.
The campaign is a crackdown on seatbelt laws to help promote the safety of motorists during Memorial Day week. The campaign covers highways all along the eastern part of the United States, from Maine to Florida.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, car crashes are the leading cause of death for people ages 11 through 27 in the United States, and there were 9,580 unbelted crash deaths in the United States in 2013.
A news release was sent out by the Tallahassee Police Department in which police Chief Michael J. DeLeo’s claimed that Tallahassee is stepping up police enforcement by taking a “no-excuse” approach to seat belt safety. TPD will be enforcing this law by handing out a minimum of $123 ticket if a motorist is seen without a seat belt.
Statistics have shown that safety belts are 45 to 60 percent effective and it is one of the most important precautions you can take to protect yourself during a vehicle crash.
“The best advice for staying safe on the road is to buckle up and obey the speed limit. If every driver did that, many lives would be saved this weekend,” said Russ Rader, the spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
