Monday, February 25, 2013

MAKING IT CLICK

THE ROANOKE TIMES

LIVES ON THE LINE

Seat belts are a secondary concern in Va.

If you get stopped by Virginia State Police and are not wearing a seat belt, you might end up with only a warning. In contrast to Christiansburg police, who do not give warnings under an aggressive campaign against unbelted travel in town limits, Virginia State Police are less strict. Troopers who ticket a driver for a primary offense also can ticket for a seat belt violation if warranted. However, they cant ticket for the seat belt violation alone, according to a 2009 directive by Col. Steven Flaherty. When somebody is stopped for a primary violation and a seat belt violation (or another secondary violation such as using windshield wipers without headlights), a trooper can ticket for both, give a warning for both or give a ticket for the primary violation and a warning for the secondary violation, the policy states. Flahertys policy creates uniformity in how troopers enforce secondary violations, state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said. The Virginia State Police is not in a position to pick and choose when to enforce one secondary offense over another, she said, adding the agency takes seat belt safety seriously.
Jeff Sturgeon

Officer Donnie Cromer gathers information after stopping a driver for a moving traffic violation in Christiansburg. During special DMV-funded patrols by Christiansburg police, officers stop drivers for traffic offenses generally and snag plenty of the unbelted. Christiansburg police are so intolerant of seat belt violations that they do not give warnings for the offense, a policy tougher than the one used by Virginia State Police. Skeptics may suspect a money grab. There isnt any money in it for the town, however. The state collects each $25 payment of Virginias seat belt fine no matter which locality writes the ticket.

CHRISTINA OCONNOR | Special to The Roanoke Times

CHRISTIANSBURG:

Policy tough; compliance rewarded

FROM 1

one in town must buckle up the 22,000 residents as well as a larger daytime population of shoppers and people passing through on their way to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. With state money, town police conduct a homegrown, occupant-protection campaign of equal parts education and enforcement that has won several awards.

The whole purpose of the campaign is to say, Wear your seat belt. Its not only needed and necessary and the law, but its appreciated and we recognize it because it is important for you to get there.
Christiansburg assistant police chief

No warnings
Christiansburg police are so intolerant of seat belt violations that they do not give warnings for the offense, a policy tougher than the one used by Virginia State Police. By department policy, each seat belt law offender who can be ticketed gets a ticket. Skeptics may suspect a money grab. There isnt any money in it for the town, however. The state collects each $25 payment of Virginias seat belt fine no matter which locality writes the ticket. Occupant protection is a priority at every level of the police department hierarchy. Chief Mark Sissons special role is to address and sign a letter to each belted driver who crashes within town limits and was neither injured nor at fault. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for doing the right thing and buckling up, the letter says. Your actions possibly helped protect you from serious injury, and can also be a lesson for all of us to be mindful of the protection that a seat belt can give. Sisson said he believes his letter sticks in peoples minds and can make someone who isnt a full-time seat belt user into one. It changes people and its a simple letter, he said. He sent 30 letters between Nov. 7 and Jan. 9. Because the letters go out in batches, that is not an indication of how many crashes there were during those two months. Christiansburg got serious about seat belts in the fall of 2011. There is no particular personal narrative at the root of it, but rather frustration with area motorists who seemed to be gaming the system. Each twice-a-year running of the national Click It Or Ticket campaign in town drove belting rates higher. They fell after it ended. When the commercials went away, the fear of getting a ticket because of extra enforcement went away; the seat belt usage rate would also go down because it wasnt some-

Maj. Dalton Reid,

CLICK IT!
Tickets issued for seatbelt violations in Christiansburg

1,393

837 505 537

09

10

11

12

SOURCE: Christiansburg Police Department

The Roanoke Times

thing that stayed in someones mind, said Maj. Dalton Reid, assistant police chief. The agency started Take the Christiansburg Seat Belt Challenge so people would buckle for safety rather than primarily to avoid contact with the police. The culture around buckling up has since changed, Reid and Sisson said.

Positive reinforcement
Under the guise of the challenge, officers periodically wait in school parking lots to reward students who are buckled in their seats as they arrive. Young children have received lollipops, stickers and rulers, while older youths have received coupons for fast food and gasoline. Businesses donated the rewards. The percentage of belted drivers, which used to slump into the mid-80th percentile between episodes of Click It Or Ticket, rose to the low 90s and stayed there, said Reid, who gave the latest tally as 93 percent. The whole purpose of the campaign is to say, Wear your seat belt. Its not only needed and necessary and the law, but its appreciated and we recognize it because it is important for you to get there, Reid said. Police officials acknowledge that Christiansburg, at about 14 square miles, is compact, which makes it more feasible to achieve a high

Christiansburg Police Chief Mark Sisson addresses and signs a letter to each belted driver who crashes within town limits and was neither injured nor at fault. Sisson said he believes his letter sticks in peoples minds and can make someone who isnt a full-time seat belt user into one.

MATT GENTRY | The Roanoke Times

CHIEFS LETTER CHANGES PEOPLE I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for doing the right thing and buckling up. Your actions possibly helped protect you from serious injury, and can also be a lesson for all of us to be mindful of the protection that a seat belt can give.

WHOS GIVING TICKETS FOR FAILING TO BUCKLE UP IN VIRGINIA?

Tickets issued for seat belt violations (January to November 2012) Per 1,000 population
MOST LEAST

Emporia Bristol Sussex Co. New Kent Co. Lunenburg Essex Co. Petersburg Montgomery Co.* Giles Co. Galax
SOURCE: Virginia Supreme Court

32 30 27 21 20 19 19 19 18 17

Alexandria Charlottesville Floyd Co. Highland Co. Newport News Loudoun Co. Middlesex Co. Mathews Co. Nelson Co. Staunton

0.5 0.8 1.1 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.9 2.1 2.7
The Roanoke Times

*Includes the totals from Christiansburg

belting rate through enforcement and public awareness efforts. With a force of 57 officers, the department can reach the whole community easily compared with the challenge facing a police force responsible for a large county such as Pittsylvania, which has close to 980 square miles. Seat belt usage is calculated by a Christiansburg officer or officers who observe drivers at various points in the town and then merge the data to form an estimated rate, Reid said. The state seat belt usage rate, in contrast, is more comprehensive because researchers observe both drivers and front-seat passengers. No belt usage rate available for Virginia covers rear seats. When they take the local campaign to the streets, Christiansburg police use specialpurpose funding from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles $10,000 during the current fiscal year to pay officers overtime to enforce traffic laws within town limits. During special DMV-funded patrols by Christiansburg police, officers do not look for drivers without seat belts or with children not in a car seat and watch until they commit an offense, even though the objective is improved occupant protection. Instead, they stop drivers for traffic offenses generally. That snags plenty of the unbelted. Citations for no seat belt rose from 537 in 2010 to 837 in 2011 and 1,393 in 2012, according to figures supplied by the department. Christiansburgs 2012 ticket count exceeded that of Norfolk, which has more than 10 times the population. Child-seat violations in Christiansburg were up by more than half from 2010 to 104 in 2012. State transportation officials are pleased with the results in Christiansburg. The town police department won the Governors Transportation Safety Award in 2012 for its occupant protection work.