Cottleville, Weldon Spring Adopt Local Primary Seat Belt Ordinance

ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety is pleased to announce that the City of Cottleville and Weldon Spring have each adopted a local primary seat belt ordinance. This means that law enforcement in this area can and will stop vehicles with unbuckled drivers or passengers. Officers do not need to find another violation to justify the stop.

The City of Cottleville is now the 22nd municipality in Missouri (17th in St. Louis metropolitan area) to join this seat belt enforcement effort to help save more lives.

"Having this local seat belt ordinance now provides our police department the opportunity to reinforce to motorists that seat belts can and do save lives" said Scott Lewis, Chief of Police for the City of Cottleville.

St. Louis County was the first of a growing number of jurisdictions to have a local primary seat belt ordinance. Other local jurisdictions that have similar ordinances include: Ballwin, Clarkson Valley, Chesterfield, Creve Coeur, Foristell, Manchester, St. John, Herculaneum, Webster Groves, Brentwood, Hazelwood, Calverton Park, Charlack, Edmundson and New Melle.

“We applaud these two areas for taking the initiative to adopt a local primary seat belt ordinance in their municipality,” said Leanna Depue, chair of the executive committee of the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety. “This big step will help reduce fatalities and help save more lives.”

With the efforts of the law enforcement agencies and traffic safety partners in 2010, fatalities on Missouri roadways dropped once again, to 821. However, the five-year trend of reduced fatalities is not attributed to more motorists buckling up.

The statewide safety belt use rate has remained relatively unchanged for the same time period. Despite evidence proving the benefits of wearing a seat belt, nearly one in four Missouri motorists are still not making it click. Seven out of ten Missourians killed in traffic crashes are unbuckled.

“In order to continue the trend of reducing fatalities, more people must start using seat belts,” said Depue. “It is our mission to continue saving lives, and the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety asks for all law enforcement agencies’ help to increase safety belt use.”

For information on Missouri seatbelt usage, visit www.saveMOlives.com.