In an effort to reduce traffic accidents, Eugene Police will conduct special traffic safety enforcement through Sunday. Anyone who is not wearing a safety belt properly will receive a citation.
EPD spokeswoman Melinda Kletzok said two officers disguised in plain clothes and five officers on motorcycles Thursday gave out 100 citations on the road, 66 of which were seat belt citations. Officers will likely give out more than 1,000 seat belt citations during the entire two-week traffic safety enforcement period, which began Feb. 4.
The officers’ purpose was to both enforce and educate, said Kletzok. When officers handed out citations, they showed drivers how to wear their seat belts properly to avoid fatal accidents.
U.S. Department of Transportation statistics show that proper use of seat belts can decrease the risk of front seat passenger fatal injury by 45 percent. In some counties, more than 50 percent of victims involved in reported fatal crashes from 1995 to 1997 were not wearing seat belts.
EPD each year receives federal funding to pay officers overtime for the extra patrolling to reinforce Oregon law and further reduce state crash rates, Kletzok said.
To reinforce Oregon’s child safety seat laws, officers will also hand out citations to adults who have not secured their children properly. Children who are younger than a year old and weigh less than 20 pounds are required to ride in rear-facing safety seats; children older than 1 and between 20 and 40 pounds must ride in a forward-facing safety seat; and children who weigh more than 40 pounds must be secured in a booster seat until they are 8 years old or 4 feet, 9 inches tall.
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