South Carolina Department of Public Safety
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
July 10, 2008
CONTACT: SID GAULDEN, 803-600-8119
or BEVERLY HARRIS, (803) 896-9958
Record number of SC motorists
buckling up, survey finds
BLYTHEWOOD – According to a survey
released this week, 79 percent of
As part of the Buckle Up South
Carolina (BUSC) campaign that ran from May 19 to June 1, the SC Department of
Public Safety (SCDPS) commissioned a survey by the
SCDPS officials credit the high
safety belt usage rate to the motoring public’s increased compliance with the
primary safety belt law and efforts of the law enforcement community. In
addition, SCDPS’ Office of Highway Safety (OHS) has coordinated outreach efforts
through the media and public events to educate the public about the life-saving
potential of buckling up.
“The increase in the safety belt
usage rate is indicative of the extraordinary work by state and local law
enforcement officers during the BUSC campaign,” said Mark Keel, Director of
SCDPS. “The bottom line is that when more people wear safety belts, more lives
are saved on our highways.”
The safety belt usage rate in
While
“Every little bit helps,” he said.
“Of course, we have room to improve and we can through the continued efforts of
law enforcement, education and the public’s compliance with the law.”
BUSC is a high visibility statewide
safety belt enforcement and public information and education campaign
coordinated by SCDPS in conjunction with national and regional enforcement
mobilizations of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The goals are an increase in safety belt usage in
According to preliminary statistics
from the OHS, fatalities during BUSC decreased 31 percent over last year.
Data shows that 20 people died this year during the campaign period compared to
29 during last year’s campaign.
To emphasize the importance of
wearing safety belts in motor vehicles, SCDPS used the BUSC campaign to
highlight the three collisions in a crash:
• Vehicle
collision: Vehicle slams into another vehicle or fixed object (guard rail, tree,
etc.)
• Human
collision: Body slams into other occupants and/or interior of vehicle, or is
ejected out of the vehicle through one of the windows
• Internal
collision: Internal body parts slam against each other and/or the body’s
skeletal structure causing internal bleeding
During the BUSC campaign, the SC
Department of Transportation (SCDOT) allowed the use of its electronic message
boards across the state to help remind motorists to wear safety belts.
Posted messages stated: “Buckle Up. It’s the law.”
In addition, SCDPS’ reissued a TV
commercial that first aired as part of the popular Highways or Dieways campaign
and paired the spot with a more recent enforcement commercial to encourage
safety belt usage and compliance with the law.
The BUSC survey also found that:
continue to be more likely than men to use safety belts (85.8§Women
percent to 74.2 percent)
§Passengers are
less likely than drivers to use safety belts (78.2 percent to 79.1 percent)
occupants are less likely to use safety belts than urban occupants (76.0§Rural
percent to 80.3 percent)
occupants had a higher rate of use than non-white occupants (8§White2.4
percent to 70.9 percent)
occupants were more likely to wear safety belts than truck occupants (81.1§Car
percent to 73.3 percent)
The three counties in the study with
the highest rates of safety belt use:
§
§
The three counties in the study with
the lowest rates of safety belt use in June 2008:
§
§
§
The study also found that 46.1
percent of observed motorcyclists wore helmets, an increase over the 35.5
percent observed during last year’s study.
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BH/26/08