Leading the Charge: Initiatives For Safer Communities

Posted August 28, 2012 | By csponline

Police officers protect the community from crime and other dangers; however, they also must enforce laws that encourage safety. Police departments throughout Minnesota promote safety measures on Minnesota’s roadways and within its communities to educate and protect citizens. Chiefs of police must encourage their officers to diligently enforce these new initiatives and educate the community through outreach efforts.

Minnesota Police Officers Tell Drivers to “Drop Their Speed” With New Initiative

Speeding—a common infraction on Minnesota’s roadways—can lead to more than a ticket. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Office of Traffic Safety reports that unsafe and illegal speeding is the most commonly reported contributing factor in fatal crashes. Speed contributed to more than 250 traffic deaths statewide and nearly 700 severe, life-altering injuries between 2009 and 2011.

According to Donna Berger, director of the DPS Office of Traffic Safety, speeding is just as dangerous as drunk and distracted driving. “Many drivers may not perceive speeding as a great risk on the road, but when you push above the speed limit, you are pushing the limits of road safety.”

Motorists who speed put their life and the lives of others on the line. The Minnesota DPS Office of Traffic Safety has found the following dangers related to speeding:

Greater potential for loss of vehicle control

Increased stopping distance

Less time available for driver response to avoid crashes

Increased crash severity, leading to more numerous and severe injuries

The Minnesota DPS Office of Traffic Safety, in partnership with around 400 statewide agencies (including the Minnesota State Patrol, county sheriff’s offices and municipal agencies), has launched a new campaign that targets individuals driving faster than the speed limit during the month of July. This campaign supplements an ongoing 12-month campaign that launched in October 2011, which resulted in nearly 19,000 vehicle stops and more than 3,500 speeding tickets through March 2012. The summer road safety initiative has a history of producing results. The same initiative in July 2011 resulted in nearly 20,000 motorists receiving tickets for speeding. Motorists driving 10 miles per hour faster than the speed limit could face a citation and a fee of more than $120. Citations increase in correlation to the motorist’s speed.

Annual “Click It or Ticket” Campaign Enforces Seat Belt Law

According to 2010 data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 22,000 passenger vehicle occupants died in motor vehicle crashes in the United States that year, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that another 2.7 million occupants received medical treatment for injuries related to motor vehicle crashes. Simply wearing a seat belt could have prevented many of these deaths and injuries. The NHTSA reports seat belts saved more than 12,500 lives in 2010. To combat the carelessness of drivers and passengers, the NHTSA established the Click It or Ticket campaign to spotlight the issue of seat belt safety and enforce seat belt laws across the country. Police departments nationwide participated in the recent Click It or Ticket campaign conducted from May 21 to June 3, 2012.

Minnesota’s annual Click It or Ticket campaign strives to build awareness about the importance and effectiveness of seat belt safety to save lives on the road. During the campaign, police officers enforced the seat belt law and wrote more than 12,600 citations for motorists who failed to wear their seat belt, according to the Minnesota DPS Office of Traffic Safety.

“We conduct these publicized campaigns to increase belt compliance with the goal to limit preventable deaths and injuries,” said Berger. “Buckling up is the simplest, most effective precaution motorists have to stay safe on the road.”

Every car contains lifesaving seat belts. However, many Minnesotans continue to ignore the state’s primary seat belt law and drive unbuckled, putting their lives at risk. A seat belt could have made a big difference in Minnesota’s total highway fatalities last year. Although nearly 900 people died in motor vehicle accidents between 2009 and 2011, only 46 percent of those killed were known to be wearing a seat belt. Additionally, of more than 2,500 people seriously injured in car accidents during the same period, only 57 percent were known to be wearing a seat belt.

The usage statistics illustrate the gravity of educating young drivers about the importance of wearing a seat belt. According to the Minnesota DPS Office of Traffic Safety, motorists ages 15 to 29 account for nearly 40 percent of all unbelted deaths and nearly 50 percent of all unbelted serious injuries. This demographic accounts for only 24 percent of all licensed drivers. Additionally, nationwide statistics show that traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for people ages 2 to 33, which highlights the importance of buckling up.

Thirty-two states, including Minnesota, have a primary seat belt law, which requires all passengers of a motor vehicle to buckle up or sit in the correct child restraint.

Distracted Driving Day Creates Awareness of Hazard

Texting and driving creates a hazard on Minnesota’s roadways and accounts for one in four vehicle accidents annually in the state. Texting and driving has caused more than 200 deaths and nearly 26,000 injuries throughout the state in the past three years. A 2008 state law prohibits texting, emailing and surfing the Web while operating a vehicle.

To build awareness of the dangers of texting while driving and other distracted behaviors, Minnesota law enforcement conducted a Distracted Driving Day on April 19, 2012. The one-day campaign resulted in more than 100 citations. Minnesota police typically issue only four distracted driving citations per day. The campaign also aimed to raise awareness of other distracted driving behaviors such as changing the radio dial, eating and applying makeup.

“It is important to remember that distractions go beyond the cell phones and texting,” said Nathan Bowie, information officer for the DPS.

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