January 31, 2020 3:40 a.m.
Starting Monday, Roseburg Police will have additional officers working a traffic safety blitz with the focus being on safety belt and child restraint use.
Sergeant Jeff Eichenbusch said Oregon Department of Transportation data for 2017 shows the lack of safety belt or child restraint use was a factor in 22% of motor vehicle occupant fatalities.
Through February 16th, law enforcement agencies throughout Oregon will use federally funded overtime to educate the public about safety belt and child seat laws including a recently passed law increasing safety for children under age two.
Eichenbusch said motor vehicle crashes are the leading nationwide cause of death for children ages one through twelve. In 2017, 1,906 children under age twelve were injured in Oregon traffic crashes. Nine percent were reported to not be using a child restraint system. It is estimated that car seats may increase crash survival by 71 percent for infants under age one, and up to 59 percent for toddlers aged one to four. Booster seats may reduce the chance of nonfatal injury among four to eight-year old children by 45 percent compared to safety belts used alone, according to the ODOT data.
In 2017, an Oregon law was passed requiring children to ride in a rear-facing safety seat until they are at least two years old. A child over age two must continue to ride in a car seat with harness or in a booster until they reach age eight or are 4 foot 9 inches in height, or an adult seat fits them correctly.
Funding for the blitz is made possible through grants from Oregon Impact and the Oregon Department of Transportation.