Memorial Day Weekend 2017: Seatbelt Enforcement Campaign is On in NY

Memorial Day weekend is coming up, and New York State Police and local law enforcement are conducting a joint a seat belt and child safety seat enforcement initiative. It started Monday and runs through June 4. It is part of the annual Buckle Up New York, Click it or Ticket campaign.

“As the summer travel season begins, we are joining with our law enforcement partners to strongly encourage the proper use of seat belts and child safety seats in motor vehicles," State Police Superintendent George P. Beach II said in an announcement about the campaign. "Wearing a seat belt is a simple measure that dramatically reduces the risk of severe injury or death in a crash. We will continue our efforts to reduce the senseless tragedies caused by those who ignore New York’s seat belt laws.”

During the two-week enforcement campaign, the State Police will supplement regular patrols with special seat belt and child safety seat details, in addition to conducting safety restraint checkpoints.

During last year’s campaign, Troopers and local law enforcement issued more than 28,000 adult and child safety restraint violations.

Under New York State Law:

• All front seat occupants must be properly secured, regardless of age.
• All rear seat passengers under 16 years of age must be properly secured.
• Children up to the age of 4 must be properly restrained in a federally approved child safety seat that is attached to a vehicle by a seat belt or universal child restraint anchorage (LATCH) system.
• Children less than age 4 but weighing more than 40 pounds may be restrained in a booster seat with a lap/shoulder safety belt. However, a child safety seat that accommodates higher weights can be used.
• Children ages 4, 5, 6 and 7 must be properly secured in an appropriate child restraint system, one for which the child meets the height and weight recommendations of the child restraint manufacturer.
• A vehicle's safety belt is NOT a child restraint system.
• Children riding in booster seats must be secured with a combination lap/shoulder seat belt (State Police advise motorists to NEVER secure a child in a booster seat with only a lap belt).

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that seat belts saved 13,941 lives in 2015 nationally and could have saved another 2,804 if people who weren’t wearing them had done so. In New York, NHTSA estimates seat belts saved 443 lives in 2015 and another seven children under age 5 were saved by car seats. The NHTSA also estimated another 55 lives could have been saved with 100 percent compliance.