Air Bag and Seat Belt Safety
Thank you for joining tens of thousands of officers nationwide in the tenth wave of the Operation ABC Mobilization: America Buckles Up Children when law enforcement cracks down on drivers who fail to buckle up themselves and their child passengers and who drink and drive.
This nationwide seat belt enforcement push will place special emphasis on protecting teens and young adults as new data show more than half of all teens who die in crashes are completely unrestrained. According to new data from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Fatal Analysis Reporting System, 4,216 teens, ages 16-19, died and thousands more were injured in traffic crashes in 2000. Fatality rates for teens are twice that of older drivers and the risk of crashes for teens is four times that of older drivers.
The Mobilizations are sponsored by the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, the National Safety Council, NHTSA, the National Transportation Safety Board, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The upcoming enforcement initiative takes place the week of Memorial Day, May 20-27, with many agencies extending their enforcement wave through June 2. We continue to do these waves because research shows that repeating waves of high-visibility enforcement saves lives.