News : Click it or Ticket: Benton Co. Sheriff's Dept. plans s.T.E.P. enforcement effort

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office will be participating in the s.T.E.P. CLICK IT OR TICKET enforcement wave May 18 – 31, 2015

Crash data shows that passenger vehicle occupants are buckling up more during the day than at nighttime. This mobilization across Iowa and the entire United States is created to heighten seat belt enforcement 24-7, but focused enforcement efforts will take place between the nighttime hours of 6 p.m. and 5:59 a.m. due to the significant number of violators and fatal crashes during this time.

Over the last ten years, Iowa has averaged 5.3 traffic fatalities during the three-day Memorial Day weekend. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration nearly half of the 21,132 passenger vehicle occupants who were killed on our nation’s roadways in 2013 were not wearing seat belts. That number jumped to 67 percent for males aged 13 – 15. Buckling up in the back seat is just as important. Half of all front-seat occupants killed in crashes in 2012 were unrestrained but 61 percent of those killed in back seats were unrestrained. Keep in mind that those fatalities aren’t just statistics; they are someone’s family member or friend.

The Benton County Sheriff received a grant from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau for overtime patrol hours for traffic safety to help reduce collisions and highway injuries and deaths. We want to remind drivers not to drink and drive and to remember that the single most effective way to reduce serious injuries and fatalities in motor vehicle crashes is to wear a seat belt every day, every trip!