City of Tigard > News > Next Seat Belt Enforcement Campaign Set To Begin

Next Seat Belt Enforcement Campaign Set To Begin

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	City of Tigard 13125 SW Hall Blvd. Tigard, Oregon 97223	Press Release August 25, 2009
For Immediate Release
Contact:	Jim Wolf, Public Information Officer Tigard Police Department 503-718-2561 Pager: 503-795-2391 jim@tigard-or.gov

Next Seat Belt Enforcement Campaign Set To Begin
The Tigard Police Department will once again participate in the "Three Flags Safety Belt Campaign" beginning August 29th. The two week long blitz is a multi-jurisdictional approach to help ensure motorists respect, obey and understand the importance of using seat belts and child safety seats. Tigard Officers will be focusing on this enforcement at various times and days. This effort is made possible through dedicated federal funding. The grant covers the costs of overtime for officers assigned to this specific enforcement campaign.

Recent statistics indicated that Tigard motorists demonstrated nearly 97% compliance regarding vehicle safety belt usage for front seated occupants. The national average is just over 80%. While these figures are encouraging, it should also be noted that the lack of safety belt use was a major factor in half of all motor vehicle fatalities in Oregon during 2007.

The base fine for failure to wear a safety belt in a vehicle is $100.00. The base fine is the same for improperly wearing a safety belt, such as behind your back or under your arm.

Child Restraints

Child passengers must be restrained in an approved child safety seat until they weigh 40 pounds.
Infants must ride rear facing until they reach both one year of age and 20 pounds.

Booster Seats

Children over 40 pounds must use a booster seat until they are age 8 or 4'9" in height.
The booster seat requirement does not apply when the rear seat of the vehicle is equipped only with lap belts, provided the child is secured by the lap belt.

Safety Belts

A child taller than 4'9" or age 8 or older must be properly secured with the vehicle's safety belt.
The child is properly secured if the lap belt is positioned low across the thighs and the shoulder belt is positioned over the collarbone and away from the neck.

Additional information regarding child passenger safety can be found at http://www.actsoregon.org/index.html.