State Police Prepare For Holiday Enforcement

SOUTH CHARLESTON – The West Virginia State Police are preparing for the 2007 Memorial Day weekend through participation in three highway safety campaigns. The highly successful Click It or Ticket Mobilization blitz period will begin Monday, May 14 and will end on Monday, June 4, 2007. In 2006, this campaign helped West Virginia raise its seat belt usage rate to an all-time high of 88.5%.

Operation C.A.R.E. (Combined Accident Reduction Effort) will begin on Friday, May 25 and end on Monday, May 28, 2007. This national C.A.R.E. campaign was formed as a multi-jurisdictional program of patrol, enforcement, and planning activities committed to the goal of accident reduction. On average, there are six C.A.R.E. enforcement periods every year.

The last campaign, All American Buckle-Up Week, begins on Monday, May 21 and also ends on Monday, May 28, 2007. Just as the name states, All American Buckle-Up Week focuses on educating drivers about the importance of using seat belts and child safety restraint devices.

In order to achieve the goals established in the campaigns, the West Virginia State Police will increase patrols on the state’s highways, particularly on state, county and secondary routes. Troopers will be focusing on counties and roadways where traffic crash rates are high.

Make use of the *SP (*77) function on your cellular phone. This function can be used on any cellular phone and is free of charge. By dialing *SP, drivers can report stranded motorists to the State Police. This function can also be used to report dangerous drivers as well.

Over the past years, a few new traffic laws have been passed in West Virginia that most of the public are either not aware of or do not understand fully. Below are two of those traffic laws the West Virginia State Police would like to emphasize:

· West Virginia law requires that every person under the age of eighteen must be buckled up while in a vehicle and every occupant in the front seat must also be buckled regardless of age. Currently, every driver who transports a child under the age of eight years must place the child in an approved child passenger safety device meeting federal safety standards. Provided, that if a child is under the age of eight years and at least four feet, nine inches (4’9”) tall, a safety belt shall be sufficient (WV Code §17C-15-46).

· According to law passed in 2002, drivers in the right lane approaching emergency vehicles parked in the emergency lane of a four lane road are required to change lanes and proceed past the emergency vehicle in the left lane. If the lane change is not possible, drivers must reduce their speed not to exceed fifteen miles per hour on any non-divided highway or street and twenty-five miles per hour on any divided highway depending on road conditions (WV Code §17C-14-9a).

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