The La Porte Police Department will be running 60 hours of Operation Pull Over Funded seat belt patrols between February 10 and February 24. The focus of officers working these patrols will be to target motorists that are not wearing seat belts or have children who are not properly restrained.
February was chosen to run these patrols because February 2016 had the second highest number of traffic crashes of any month last year with 68 crashes or 10.07% of total for the year. Thirteen of the 68 crashes, or 19%, resulted in injury. With the snow that is usually generated in our area at this time of year, crashes seem to happen more and keeping everyone buckled up helps lead to less severe injuries reported.
“Valentine’s Day is coming up and this is a time when many people go out with their significant other and celebrate. One thing that you can do to show your love for your family is to ensure that everyone in your vehicle is properly restrained. Crashes can happen at any time to anyone, even to the most careful of drivers. Keeping everyone safe is a top priority for the La Porte Police Department,” said Captain Pat Hemphill.
Operation Pull Over is a traffic safety grant program funded by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and administered by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. The goal of Operation Pull Over is to reduce traffic crashes injuries and fatalities by promoting passenger restraint use, and supporting impaired and dangerous driving enforcement.
For more information on Operation Pull Over and the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute’s other programs and activities, please visit http://www.in.gov/cji.