Buckle Up When Driving Route 66

NewsOn6.com

UNDATED -- Law enforcement all along historic Route 66 will be cracking down Friday, August 6 on seat belt violations. 

The 24-hour crackdown begins at 12 midnight, and high-visibility enforcement will take place along the Highway 66 "Mother Road."

Saturation patrols and checkpoints will be conducted from Canadian County to Oklahoma County, with other agencies in Rogers County joining in a similar mobilization. 

Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Lt. Garrett Vowell said the crackdown is part of an effort to enhance seat belt enforcement and improve Oklahoma's usage rate year-round.

"The newest statistics show that Oklahoma's seat belt use rate is 85.9 percent for 2010," he said. "That's a 1.7 percent increase over 2009, but we still have a long way to go before every driver and every passenger is appropriately buckled up," said Lt. Garrett Vowell. 

He says officers also will be watching for child passenger seat violations.   

"We want to educate people about the appropriate type of child seat for their kids. No law enforcement officer wants to work a crash where a child was injured or killed because he or she wasn't in the correct type of car seat, or it was improperly installed," said Lt. Garrett Vowell.

He says similar crackdowns will take place at least four times a year in the future and will eventually include all 400 miles of Oklahoma's Route 66.