As of Monday, May 23, Virginia State Police officers started paying special attention to commercial vehicle drivers who aren’t wearing their safety belts.
Three organizations – the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Virginia State Police and Drive Smart Virginia – are co-sponsoring an enforcement campaign for truckers who don’t wear their seat belts. The stepped-up education program will continue through June 5.
Drive Smart Virginia received close to $200,000 in grant money from FMCSA to help educate truckers on the importance wearing their safety belts, Drive Smart spokesperson Suzanne Ellyson said. A study conducted by Drive Smart showed that only 59 percent of truckers buckled up in their cabs, compared to more than 80 percent by passenger vehicle operators.
“There is a federal law that requires truckers to buckle up, so it’s kind of a federal priority to make sure that they are buckled up,” Ellyson said. “Most of the time, if you’re buckled up, you can maintain control of your vehicle better. Obviously, because their vehicle is larger, it’s imperative that they be able to control it.”
The commercial vehicle education program runs in conjunction with the Click It or Ticket safety campaign, a nationwide program aimed at education and enforcement of commercial and passenger vehicle drivers who don’t wear their safety belts. Although Drive Smart’s program is aimed at education, she said the Virginia State Police would handle all enforcement of seat belt laws.
According to a press release from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, safety belts prevented 135,000 fatalities and 3.8 million injuries between 1975 and 2000, saving $585 billion in medical and other costs.
Ellyson said her organization is working hard to dispel the myth that truckers are safer because of the size of their vehicle.
“When you are buckled up, it prevents you from being ejected,” Ellyson said. “That’s one of the things that, no matter what kind of vehicle you’re driving, there’s still a possibility of that happening to you.”
