An education program made possible with a $5,000 Illinois Department of Transportation grant has been credited with an increase in safety-belt use over a recent three-month period in Roselle.
Roselle Police Lt. Joann Kunz said the grant allowed the police department to assign extra shifts for enforcement and education campaigns.
On Oct. 1, visual surveys conducted by police in the suburb showed 59 percent of all motorists were wearing safety belts. But after three months of community education efforts, Kunz said, safety-belt use rose to 70 percent.
Officers issued verbal warnings to motorists not wearing safety belts and distributed booklets and addressed public meetings with safety-themed speeches during the period, she said.
During the same three-month period, enforcement details made possible by the grant netted six drunken-driving arrests, 107 speeding tickets and 27 tickets for not wearing seat belts, Kunz said.
The National Safety Council says safety belts cut a driver’s chances of dying in an accident by 50 percent.