Yuma police to push seat belt use

  Yuma Police Sgt. Don Willits remembers going to the scene of a vehicle rollover in 2007 that claimed the life of the driver.

  The driver was killed when he was thrown from the vehicle and the vehicle rolled on top of him.

  But when the vehicle was turned upright, police discovered that it could still be driven, Willits said.

  "Had that person stayed in the vehicle, he would probably have been uninjured."

  But he had not been wearing his seat belt.

  Motorists in the Yuma area - and, in fact, the state - appear to be getting better about using seat belts and child safety seats, he said, but police believe they can get better still.

  Failure to use restraints - either seat belts or child safety seats - in the vehicle will be one of the violations police officers will be targeting starting Monday when the police department's traffic enforcement campaign, Project Drive Safe, moves to Avenue C. Police said they will also be targeting speeders on Avenue C in Drive Safe.

  Failure to wear a seat belt is a secondary violation, meaning a motorist will not be pulled over merely for non-use of the restraint. But if a car is pulled over for a different violation by an officer who then discovers someone in the car is not wearing seat belts, the officer can write a ticket for the seat belt violation, Willits said.

  Failure to restrain a child in a safety seat is a primary violation, meaning a car can be pulled over if the officer sees an unrestrained child inside, Willits said.

  Under state law, children under age five must be placed in a child safety seat while others must be wearing a seat belt.

  Willits said failure to use restraints is a common denominator in fatality or injury accidents. He used 2007 as an example.

  Of seven motorists killed in accidents the city that year, only one was wearing a seat belt, he said. Five of the seven were killed when they were ejected from the vehicles in which they were riding.

  Statewide that same year, more than 378,000 people were in accidents, of whom 323,000 were wearing seat belts, according to Arizona Department of Transportation statistics. Of those wearing seat belts, less than 1/10th of 1 percent died and less than 15 percent were injured.

  Willits said law enforcement officers are noticing a trend all around the state of greater use of seat belts and child seats. That said, Yuma police periodically target seat belt non-use in Drive Safe in efforts to promote still-more frequent use.

  Avenue C is scheduled to be the street of focus in Drive Safe through April 5, police said. In Drive Safe, police officers monitor a different street each week in an ongoing campaign to promote safer driving around the city.