The Prince William County Police will be increasing seat belt education and enforcement efforts during the upcoming holiday weekend, from October 9 through October 12.
This comes as part of a joint operation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration called Operation Crash Reduction.
Drivers are reminded of the importance of seat belt use and other safe driving practices. Not only is seat belt use and passenger restraint the law in Virginia and every participating state but buckling up provides the best defense against injury or death in a crash.
October: the month with the most fatal crashes
From 2014 to 2018, seven states and the District of Columbia had some of the nation’s highest numbers of traffic crash-induced fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The District of Columbia, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia experience a total of 882 fatal crashes between October 1 and October 15 each year.
This is the highest number of fatal crashes for the first 15 days of any month during this same period.
In fact, from 2014 to 2018, October was the most likely month for fatal crashes to occur in these states, with 1,772 total fatal crashes.
In these fatal crashes, more than 45% of occupant fatalities in passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses were unrestrained.
During that same period in these states, more fatal crashes occurred on the October holiday weekend than during the holiday periods of Thanksgiving or Memorial Day.
This holiday period was the most dangerous of 2018 for these states, with 52 fatal crashes.
“For several years now, we have had this troubling trend in this East Coast region,” said Stephanie Hancock, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Regional Administrator. “We know that speed, distraction, and impairment are the root causes of most of the crashes in these states. However, seat belt and child safety-seat use are your primary sources of protection in crashes caused by a speeding, impaired, or distracted driver.”
Police will check for seat belt use, and child safety-seat use, during Operation Crash Reduction. Seat belts save lives, and everyone — front seat and back, child and adult — should remember to buckle up.
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