State Police Prepare For Holiday Enforcement


SOUTH CHARLESTON – The West Virginia State Police will once again take part in various enforcement efforts to crack down on unrestrained motorists and encourage highway safety. Monday, May 19 through Sunday, June 1, 2003, the State Police will join other law enforcement agencies in the statewide Click It or Ticket campaign. Also starting on Monday, May 19 the State Police will participate in two nationally recognized campaigns: Operation C.A.R.E.: All American Buckle-Up Week and Operation ABC: America Buckles Up Children. These two campaigns will run through the Memorial Day weekend and end on Monday, May 26.

“Troopers across the state will be strictly enforcing traffic laws and concentrating on highway safety during the enforcement periods,” said Colonel Howard E. Hill, Jr., Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police. “The Memorial Day weekend is one of the busiest travel days of the year. Our goal is to keep the motoring public in West Virginia as safe as possible.”

Historically, West Virginia has had a below average seat belt usage rate. In the year 2000, the rate hovered at around 58 percent. The rate has since begun to increase. In May 2002, the seat belt usage rate climbed to an all-time high of around 72 percent, just three percent lower than the national average of 75 percent.

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. Every driver who transports a child under the age of three must secure the child in an approved child passenger safety device meeting federal safety standards. Enforcement of the West Virginia seat belt law shall be accomplished only as a secondary action; however, child passenger safety seat violations are a primary enforcement law.

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