Get in the habit of buckling up
It’s time to buckle up if you live in St. Charles Parish or anywhere else in Louisiana.
State police are cracking down on unbuckled drivers through June 21. They will be issuing tickets to anyone not wearing a seat belt.
This annual seat belt campaign is being advertised heavily in the state. St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office is one of the agencies taking part in it.
Louisiana ranks last in the country among states in the wearing of seat belts, according to Col. James Champagne, executive director of Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. Before Hurricane Katrina, the state was improving.
But in the last two years, the numbers have gone down. Perhaps our days have been so hectic we have forgotten all about safety.
The days of throwing the kids in the back of a station wagon with the seats down to let them crawl about while you drive unprotected by a seat belt are over. And the police plan to make sure they are.
By snapping a seat belt, you can cut the risk of serious injury or death in half. And many dollars in damages and injuries a year will be saved in Louisiana alone if everyone performed such a simple maneuver, said Champagne.
So be sure you buckle yourself and the kiddies up everytime you get in your car from now until June 21. By then, you should be in the habit of making the clicking sound automatically every time you take to the road.
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