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. Starting Monday, May 24 the State Police will participate in two nationally recognized campaigns: Operation C.A.R.E.: Buckle-Up America Week will run through the Memorial Day weekend and end on Monday, May 31. The national Click It or Ticket/Operation ABC: America Buckles Up Children campaign will extend through Sunday, June 6.

“The Memorial Day weekend is one of the busiest travel days of the year. 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. “Our goal is to keep the motoring public in West Virginia as safe as possible.”

According to the Click It or Ticket/Operation ABC: America Buckles Up Children website, West Virginia’s seat belt usage rate has increased by two percent since 2002. In 2003, the rate was 74%, compared to 72% in 2002.

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. Beginning July 1, 2003, the child safety seat restraint law changed. Currently, every driver who transports a child under the age of four or 40 pounds 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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