Getting a buck to buckle up beats the dickens out of paying a fine for not wearing a seat belt, particularly if you live in Iola and fail to strap on your safety harness every time you pull onto a public street.
Bucks for Buckles is a campaign sponsored by Safe Kids Kansas, State Farm Insurance and the Kansas Department of Transportation to en-courage seat belt use. For two weeks starting Sunday, volunteers in some Kansas cities will hand $1 bills to drivers who have everyone in their vehicles secured. Drivers with unrestrained passengers will get educational materials about using seat belts and child safety seats.
Beginning July 1, failing to buckle up became a primary traffic offense in Kansas, meaning officers could use that as a reason to stop a vehicle. Iola commissioners this week raised the fine to $30, which makes the total cost for an offense $90 when court costs of $60 are added on. In the county, the fine is $5, the minimum set by legislation.
Avoiding a fine isn’t a good reason to buckle your seat belt and have everyone else in your vehicle to do the same.
Being buckled in saves lives and oftentimes prevents injuries from being more severe when an accident occurs.
Several times in recent weeks, local officers have cited seat belt use as a godsend for those in-volved in accidents.
KDOT statistics bear out the wisdom of being strapped in: 70 percent of the 388 people who died in traffic accidents in Kansas last year were unbuckled.
“Click it or Ticket” is a cute slogan KDOT came up with several years ago to encourage seat belt use. There’s no way to describe as cute what can happen to drivers and passengers who are unbuckled when an accident occurs.
— Bob Johnson
