PVPD Participates in Seatbelt Safety Week

This Friday will mark the end of Kansas’ week-long campaign for teen drivers and seat belt safety, sponsored by Seat Belts are For Everyone (SAFE).

SAFE is encouraging teenagers to follow seat belt laws, so the campaign is centered around high schools. In the East area, the Prairie Village Police Department has had more officers stationed for increased enforcement, specifically around the parking lots, before and after school. More officers have also been stationed by nearby middle and elementary schools in order to ensure that all child-restraint laws are being complied with.

“Honestly, I think we have a pretty high compliance rate around here, so pretty much everybody is [wearing seatbelts],” PVPD Traffic Sergeant Eric McCullough said. “But still, any time anybody isn’t wearing their seatbelt, that’s not a good thing, so we want to stop them and educate them of the importance of having their seatbelt on.”

The SAFE program has been implemented in 71 out of 105 counties in Kansas, with 161 total schools participating, although East is not one of them. The organization hopes to eventually reduce the number of injuries and fatalities in motor vehicle accidents involving Kansas teens as teen drivers are the demographic least likely to use their seatbelts, according to DMV.org. This lack of a seatbelt may make their accidents more likely to be fatal since seatbelts can reduce the risk of fatal injury for front seat passengers by 45%, according to DMV.org.

“I see people not wearing [their seatbelts], and it just makes me mad,” junior Cooper Lintner said. “It takes 10 seconds and it could potentially save your life, so I feel like there is absolutely no reason you shouldn’t wear it.”

According to McCullough, wearing a seatbelt can only be a benefit. Through his work with the Prairie Village Police Department and the SAFE program, he hopes for an improvement in seatbelt-wearing both at East and across all of Kansas.