Ore. campaign target: Curbing deaths in pickups

Pickup truck occupants, like everyone else in a vehicle, need to buckle up properly, every time, Oregon Department of Transportation officials said Wednesday, offering statistics that show the tragedy that can result if they don’t wear them.

Even though Oregon now has the second highest safety belt use among U.S. states – with 97 percent of the motoring public using safety belts routinely – 49 people in Oregon last year lost their lives in crashes where they were in a pickup and were not wearing a safety belt.

When you think about a father or son, mother or sister lost in this way, you understand why the message “buckle up every time” is continually emphasized, the agency said.

“We know that proper belt use is the single most effective way to protect motor vehicle occupants from crash injury or death,” said ODOT Director Matt Garrett. “While we’re pleased to see Oregonians buckling up more and more, we won’t stop emphasizing the need for safety belts, child safety seats and boosters until we have zero fatalities on our roads.”

Last year in Oregon, 61 vehicle occupants who died in crashes were completely unbelted. The majority of these – 49 – were occupants in pickup trucks, and two-thirds of these unbuckled fatalities occurred in nighttime crashes.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is encouraging states to conduct nighttime enforcement of safety belt laws, as well as daytime, during the upcoming nationwide Click It or Ticket campaign, May 20 – June 2 . The effort is part of the state’s month-long “Transportation Safety Month” activities.

Oregon State Police, Oregon Association Chiefs of Police and Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association are participating in this second of three annual joint efforts sponsored by ODOT and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In addition to pickups and nighttime driving, law enforcement will also be focusing on our most vulnerable passengers: children. In 2012 in Oregon, there were 1,038 child passengers under age 4 injured in traffic crashes. One-third of these children were improperly buckled or completely unrestrained.

“Best Practice Recommendations” of the American Academy of Pediatrics and USDOT suggest that children ride in rear-facing car seats to age two or the upper weight limit of the seat in use.

Children should continue to ride in safety seats to forty pounds or the upper weight limit of their safety seat before transitioning to a booster seat. Children under thirteen should ride in the back seat.

Oregon law requires a child weighing less than 40 pounds be properly restrained in a child safety seat. A child under 1 year of age or weighing less than 20 pounds must be restrained in a rear-facing child seat

. A child over 40 pounds but under age 8 or less than 4′ 9″ tall must be restrained in either a child seat with harness system or in a booster seat that raises the child up so that a lap and shoulder belt system fit correctly.

For more information on Oregon laws or ODOT Occupant Protection Program, visit www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TS/Pages/safetybelts .