oklahoma seat belt law
Seatbelt Law for Rear Seat Passengers Proposed
A bill that would make it mandatory for rear seat passengers in Oklahoma to buckle up is making its way through the state legislature. According to a KJRH news report, lawmakers in Oklahoma have proposed such a bill for the very first time. Under Oklahoma law, people over the age of 12 are not required to wear a seatbelt when they ride in the back seat of a vehicle. Oklahoma Highway Patrol officials say that more than 50 percent of all fatal car accidents in Oklahoma every year involve people who are not buckled up. The State Troopers and AAA of Oklahoma have endorsed the bill. The bill has passed out of the committee and is now on its way for a vote on the house floor.
According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), someone is killed in a crash every 13 minutes. Seatbelts save more than 11,000 lives each year. In the event of a car accident, the vehicle comes to a sudden stop. But the vehicle’s occupants continue to keep moving until they too are stopped – by the windshield, dashboard, or worse, the pavement, if they get ejected. Wearing a seatbelt stops your body from being thrown around inside or outside the vehicle – regardless of whether you are a front seat or rear seat passenger. A seatbelt decreases the chances you’ll get hurt in a crash by restraining you and firmly holding you in place.
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Seat Belt Use Rises in Oklahoma But Still Not High Enough
Motor vehicle accidents are the largest source of all injury fatalities in the United States. On average, a person is injured in an accident every nine seconds; every 13 minutes one of those injuries is fatal; and every hour a death is because the driver or passenger failed to buckle up. Neglecting to use a seat belt still plays a larger role in highway deaths than any other single road safety-related violation. In Oklahoma, it’s mandated by primary law that all vehicle occupants 13 years of age and older wear seat beats; and it’s highly advised that all vehicle occupants buckle up.
Data indicates that seat belts are the most successful safety tools in motor vehicles today, calculated to save more than 10,000 lives annually. More than 60 percent of vehicle accident fatalities in 1996 were due to a failure to buckle up. If 90 percent of citizens used seat belts, according to studies, more than 132,000 injuries and 5,500 deaths could be stopped each year.
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Oklahoma Highway Safety Office Observes National “Click It or Ticket” Campaign
The “Click It or Ticket” campaign is a national effort to prevent car accident injuries and fatalities by encouraging drivers and passengers to “buckle-up.” Oklahoma, as well as many other states in the U.S. are increasing seat belt enforcement efforts during the campaign, which began on May 23 and ends on June 5.
According to SandSpringsLeader.com, officers from across northeastern Oklahoma will be focusing on citing motorists who are not wearing seat belts. Funding from the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office (OHSO) is providing for extra patrols and checkpoints, as well as overtime shifts. If a motorist is cited for not wearing their seat belt, they will have to pay $20, for each citation. Both drivers and passengers can be ticketed for not wearing their seat belt.
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