Buckle Up Campaign cracks down on unbuckled motorists

Caitlin Hudgins

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 | 9:25 a.m.

If you didn't buckle up before, you better start now.

Clark County law enforcement agencies on Monday began their annual "No Exceptions, No Excuses, Buckle Up Nevada" campaign, scheduled to run through June 6.

State law does not allow police to pull over cars if they see people failing to use a seat belt, but officers may cite unbuckled drivers if they are pulled over for other reasons. Now, police say, if an officer stops a car and discovers that the driver or passengers are not wearing the proper restraints, drivers will be cited, no exceptions.

The law mandating seat belt usage is not a new one, but many Nevadans still refuse to buckle up, police note.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the national seat belt-use rate is 79 percent while the Nevada rate is 75 percent.

In the past five years 61 percent of those killed in Nevada car accidents were not properly restrained.

The campaign for booster seat and seat belt safety will increase their correct usage, authorities said. In 2002 and 2003, 99 people in the Las Vegas Valley died in accidents because they failed to use their seat belts.

The importance of the public awareness campaign was underscored by recent Las Vegas-area accidents.

Juan Serna, 44, was killed Friday after his Isuzu Amigo rolled over on Boulder Highway. He was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from his vehicle. If he had been properly restrained he would have survived the accident, Metro investigators said.

Another accident occurred early Saturday morning, an incident that left a 10-year-old girl in critical condition, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Angie Wolff said. The girl and her family were on their way into town from California on Interstate 15, but the father fell asleep and their SUV flipped over, throwing the girl out of the vehicle.

Trooper Hadi Sadjadi's car rolled over in Caliente Friday, but Sadjadi was wearing a seat belt.

Although his car was badly wrecked, Sadjadi not only survived, but is already back on the streets doing his job, Wolff said, calling the driver a walking advertisement for the Buckle Up campaign.

Along with increasing seat belt enforcement, law enforcement officials will also begin to enforce a new law that takes effect June 1: The Nevada Booster Seat Law.

The new law requires that children younger than 6 years old and weighing less than 60 pounds must ride on a booster seat. The seats act as belt-positioning systems, keeping seat belts on children's laps instead of around their abdomens and across their chests instead of against their necks.

"Sitting on a phone book does not work well," Jack Berman, R.N. said. Booster seats not only provide a safe way for children to ride in cars, but also allow kids to sit up high and see out of the windows, Berman said.