
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 4, 1990                   TAG: 9006040315
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CITY PLANS SEAT BELT CAMPAIGN

The number of traffic fatalities in Roanoke has dropped since the state's mandatory seat belt law took effect, but the city's Transportation Safety Commission thinks more lives could be saved if more motorists buckled their seat belts.

Twenty-three people were killed in traffic accidents in the city in the three years before the seat belt law took effect in 1988. Ten motorists have been killed in the past two years.

Of 23 people who died in accidents from 1985 to 1987, 20 were not wearing selt belts, an average of 6.7 unbelted fatalities a year.

Of 10 people killed in the past two years, eight were not wearing seat belts, an average of 4 unbelted fatalities a year.

"This significant reduction in unbelted fatalities is likely due to the higher safety belt compliance rate," said Robert Bengtson, city traffic engineer and chairman of the Transportation Safety Commission.

Still, Bengtson said the commission plans an educational and promotional campaign to get more people to use seat belts because a recent survey indicated that only 60 percent of motorists in Roanoke buckle up.

A report by the Virginia Transportation Research Council shows there was a seat belt compliance rate of 57.6 percent in Roanoke in June 1989 and 60 percent in March 1990.

In a report to City Council, Bengtson said the state Division of Motor Vehicles, State Police and the Virginia Auto Safety Alliance are using brochures, television and radio spots and other promotional devices to encourage motorists to comply with the law.

But the city will undertake a promotional campaign to try to persuade at least 70 percent of motorists to buckle their seat belts, he said.

Public service announcements urging motorists to comply with the law will be distributed to radio and television stations. The city will seek a grant from the Division of Motor Vehicles to buy and distribute bumper stickers, brochures and booklets.

Bengtson said reminders of the safety belt law will also be flashed periodically on the Roanoke Civic Center's marquee.

The city Police Department will conduct a "Saved by the Belt" program this month that will highlight cases in which lives were saved by seat belts, he said.

State law requires drivers and passengers in the front seat to use seat belts in vehicles that are equipped with them. Police can issue citations for violation of the law if they stop a vehicle for another traffic offense. Violation of the seat belt law is a civil offense with a $25 fine.

Bengtson said all municipal workers are required to use seat belts when they are traveling in city-owned vehicles.

In his state-of-the-city recommendations last year, Mayor Noel Taylor proposed that Roanoke try to achieve a high rate of compliance with the seat belt law so it could become known as the safest place in the state to live.

by CNB