Kansas, Missouri Launch ''Buckle Up in Your Truck'' Enforcement Blitz to Save Lives; Most of Those Killed in Pickup Truck Crashes in Kansas and Missouri Were Not Wearing Their Safety Belts.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Pickup truck drivers and their passengers are among the least likely American motorists to regularly wear their safety belts, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). That's why law enforcement agencies in Kansas and Missouri have joined forces with NHTSA to launch a high visibility enforcement/education initiative called "Buckle Up in Your Truck."

With an eye toward convincing pickup truck drivers and their passengers to always buckle up, the "Buckle Up in Your Truck" effort includes stepped-up enforcement of safety belt laws and outreach activities including television and radio promotion in areas where pickup truck fatalities have been most prevalent. The enforcement effort will run May 7-13 and immediately precedes the intensive Click It or Ticket national safety belt enforcement mobilization set for May 22 to June 4, 2006.

"If we stop and cite you for a traffic offense, and you're not buckled up, you will get a ticket," said Colonel William Seck, Kansas Highway Patrol, and Colonel Roger D. Stottlemyre, Missouri State Highway Patrol, in a joint statement. "Our goal is to save lives. That means focusing our efforts on those who aren't buckled up -- those at greatest risk of injury or death."

In 2004, of the 84 occupants killed in pickup truck crashes in Kansas, 78.6 percent were not wearing their safety belts at the time of the crash. In Missouri for the same period, 77.2 percent of the 142 pickup truck occupants killed in crashes were not properly restrained.

Across the nation drivers and passengers in pickup trucks have much lower safety belt usage rates than the occupants of all other vehicles. In 2005, the observed safety belt use rate in pickup trucks was only 73 percent compared to 83 percent in passenger cars and 85 percent in vans and SUVs. Safety belt use in the nation's rural areas consistently trails the national average.

"The simple step of buckling up is the single best defense against ejection and will increase your odds of survival in light trucks by as much as 80 percent in the event of a rollover crash," said Romell Cooks, Regional Administrator, NHTSA Central Region. "That's one big reason why it is always important for anyone driving or riding in a pickup truck to always be buckled up."

While rollovers can occur in any kind of passenger vehicle, pickup trucks are twice as likely to rollover as cars, because they have a higher center of gravity. Moreover, the ejection rate for occupants of light trucks in a crash is nearly double the rate for vehicle occupants, mostly due to the lack of safety belt use. Roughly 29 percent of the pickup truck vehicles in the Central U.S. were involved in a rollover crash.

For more information about the value of always wearing your safety belt, please visit www.buckleupamerica.org or www.centralregionproject.org. For driving tips on how to avoid rollover crashes and injuries, please visit the web at www.safercar.gov.

Note to Editors: News conference available on satellite feed. The satellite feed will be available from 2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (EDT) (1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. CDT), Tuesday, April 25, 2006, on: C-Band satellite IA 5C, transponder 13 with a downlink frequency of 3960V.