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MARYVILLE

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News Brief

Nov. 15, 2018 |  By: Dontaydra Hooker Bowens

Use of seatbelts on the rise

Safety belt usage in Missouri has continued to rise, reaching it's highest rate ever. The Missouri Seat Belt Usage Survey documented seatbelt usage since 1998 and has continued to show the progress in 2018. Public Information and Education Officer for Troop H, Jake Angle says the Missouri State Highway Patrol has always made seatbelt enforcement one of their primary missions.

"I can speak for the Highway Patrol in saying that our officers are out there every day.  Especially we have extra patrols in the peak travel periods and those busy times of year when people are out more.  We have our public information education officers educating the public.  Troopers are out there educating the public and through strict enforcement, we'd like to think we've contributed to that number going up.  It's sometimes difficult to put your thumb on exactly what's a contributing factor to those numbers going up.  But as I've said earlier, we're please to see those numbers rise.  Anytime we can get more people wearing seatbelts, it's a win."

Twenty years ago, 60 percent of Missourians wore their seatbelts. That number has reached a new peak of 87 percent this year. According to data retrieved from 560 sites within 28 Missouri counties on more than 135,000 vehicle occupants, the reports showed that passengers and females used their seatbelts more often.