Sheriff's office promoting seat-belt awareness

Just one month following the Kansas Highway Patrol's "Click It Or Ticket" campaign, the Bourbon County Sheriff's Office is participating in a localized seat-belt awareness effort.

Bourbon County, along with Allen, Cherokee, Cowley, Crawford, Labette, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson, and Woodson counties, is using special federal grant money to increase seat-belt awareness from July 1-7.

The rural seat-belt enforcement campaign is funded by a grant from the National Highway traffic Safety Administration and is being coordinated by Kansas Department of Transportation's Traffic Safety Office, in cooperation with state and local law enforcement and other groups. It is a part of the federal-state "Click It Or Ticket" seat-belt enforcement and advocacy campaign designed to save lives, according to a press release from the KHP.

Bourbon County Sheriff Ron Gray said the money will be used to increase the presence of officers on the road.

"We are going to dedicate an officer per shift to go out and actually try to increase awareness," Gray said.

Gray added, the effort is not to write as many tickets as they can. He said the goal is to increase the awareness of wearing seat belts.

"It's by no means ... we're not writing ticket, ticket, ticket ... it's an awareness thing," Gray said.

The Bourbon County Sheriff's Office is hoping to increase seat-belt awareness in the rural areas of the county.

"Rural drivers believe they have a much lower risk of being in a crash, because traffic volumes are much lower. But traffic volume is only one contributing factor to crash statistics," Gray said.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, seat

-belt usage in Kansas has increased form 75 percent in 2007 to 77.3 percent in 2008; however, that is still behind the national rate of 83 percent. Statistics also show that 61 percent of those killed in passenger-vehicle crashes in Kansas during 2007 were not buckled up, while 89 percent of those who were unharmed were using seat belts.

Sheriff Gray also stated that his department has a new policy in place, stating that all deputies are required to wear their seat belts at all times while operating a police vehicle.

"If the deputy is caught not wearing his or her seat belt while on duty, the deputy could face disciplinary actions," Gray said.