Highway Patrol enforces Seat Belt usage

The Local Ohio State Highway Patrol Post in Zanesville and Cambridge have joined together to make sure motorists are buckling up.

Last week troopers from both posts were stationed in Zanesville and Cambridge on highly traveled roadways checking seat belt usage on motorists.

According to Zanesville Post Commander, Lieutenant Matt Boyd it’s the single most effective thing anyone can do to reduce the risk of a serious injury or death.

“In 2015 out of everyone who was killed in traffic crashes that could have been wearing seat belts none of them were and in 2016 80% of people killed in traffic crashes were not wearing seat belts that could have been,” Boyd said “So we try to make it a concentrated effort occasionally to focus our enforcement’s in that area, trying to get people to do that.”

To wear a seat belt properly their should be a band firmly across the pelvic bone and hip area and diagonally across the collar-bone and chest. Even when the diagonal band is tucked behind a drivers shoulder the person’s upper body could still have momentum to be thrown into the steering wheel.

Adults should also think about the children’s safety as well.

“A child up to four years and 40 pounds is required to be in a car seat and then over four years old up to eight years old or four feet nine inches tall is required to be in a properly fitting booster seat with properly adjusted seat belt,” said Boyd.

The reason for the booster seat is that cars are manufactured to fit adults above the height of four feet nine inches. So a seat belt may not perform its job properly or fit properly in keeping a child safe.

If unsure how to properly buckle in a car seat, contact AAA in Zanesville by calling (740) 454-1234.