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Divers went back into the Grand Calumet River in Gary this morning, searching for a 2-year-old girl who was ejected from a sport-utility vehicle Wednesday night when the SUV struck a guardrail, WGN-Ch. 9 reported. The child, Jatama Greene of Gary, was not in a child-restraining seat and was wearing only a seat belt when the SUV driven by her mother crashed shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday on the Cline Avenue exit ramp from the Indiana Toll Road, authorities said. Jatama was thrown from the vehicle and fell 40 feet into the river, WGN reported. "We have a witness who...

… Having a license to drive means signing a contract to follow the rules of the road. Wearing your seat belt is one of them. If you die because you stubbornly don't buckle up, your death will affect family and friends. I doubt if they are OK with that…

Your children are cute, but if they're not buckled in correctly, they're going to cost you a ticket. Albuquerque police and law enforcement officers around the state say parents of children ages 5 and up are going to be scrutinized more than ever when a new law on child safety seats goes into effect Friday. The current law requires safety restraints for children through age 4 or less than 40 pounds. The new law says children ages 5 or 6 or less than 60 pounds must be protected. Children 7 through 12 also require safety restraints - either a child...

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an office within the U.S. Department of Transportation, just finished its annual campaign to get us to wear our seatbelts under a program called "Click It or Ticket." States receive federal subsidies to ticket drivers if they or their passengers are not buckled up.

A woman battling obesity was ticketed for not wearing her seat belt, Local 4 reported. Yvonne Monger has a blood-clotting disease that has contributed to her weight problems, Local 4 reported. Monger e-mailed ClickOnDetroit.com to say that she has tried to wear a seat belt, but has trouble getting it to fit around her. Monger said she's been pulled over by police in the past for not wearing a seat belt, but had never been ticketed until the most recent stop, the station reported. "There's other obese people out here also," said Monger. "What are we supposed to do? Not...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Governor Robert Ehrlich has directed the state police to cease using night vision gear to enforce the state's seat belt laws. State police will continue to enforce the laws, but won't use the special goggles that were tested for the first and only time last Wednesday night in Montgomery County. The governor got plenty of complaints about the practice. His spokeswoman, Shareese DeLeaver, says Ehrlich doesn't usually support Big Brother tactics when it comes to law enforcement. State police spokesman Greg Shipley says the night-vision equipment was borrowed from the military and has already been returned....

Check the map! Are we in Vermont yet?By SHAWNE K. WICKHAMSunday News Staff Jeannie Johnson actually groaned aloud when she heard they had to cut down New Hampshire trees for two Vermont billboards that are quickly becoming infamous. The story just keeps getting worse. Johnson is the coordinator of the governor’s highway safety program in Vermont. That agency paid thousands of dollars to put up two billboards in the middle of New Hampshire that have been turning heads and sparking conversations. Trees were cleared to provide a view of a new billboard on I-293 promoting seatbelt use in Vermont. (BOB...

Very powerful (not gory) and extremely effective short video of the importance of teens and young adults wearing (or anyone)seat belts. I think this is one of the most important items ever passed along. PLEASE VIEW IT AND FORWARD IT TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. It MAY SAVE A LIFE. PARTICULARLY those with teens or young adults!!! FORCE YOU KIDS AND THEIR FRIENDS TO WATCH IT IF NEED BE.Much more powerful and effective than any "Be Safe Lecture" could possibly be. It may just well save their lives! LINK: http://kimmershow.com/fileTamer/seatbelts.wmv

Maine's Reform party leadership speaks out. And so, the sleeping lion of third partyism in Maiine is awakening. SEATBELTS, BUDGETS, FUNDRAISERS AND MORE FUNDRAISERS!  2005 Using our Freedoms against us!  By Nelson “Skip” Foley  Dateline: January 2005 – The budget is ok if you look at what is being brought in by state government activities in Maine verses what is already being spent but when you realize the insatiable hunger of increased spending Augusta seems to generate under the Democratic Leadership, the budget is and has been for a number of years in “short fall” mode.  This is a symptom of most...

On 17 September 2004, 21-year-old senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Derek Kieper wrote in the school's newspaper, the Daily Nebraskan: "As laws become increasingly strict for seat belts, fewer people will respond positively by buckling up in response to the laws. There seems to be a die-hard group of non-wearers out there who simply do not wish to buckle up no matter what the government does. I belong to this group." On 4 January 2005, it was reported: "Kieper, a 21-year-old senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, died early Tuesday morning when the Ford Explorer he was a passenger...

Yesterday, my daughter was driving her Honda Civic at 50 mph when a Chevy Cavalier traveling 55 mph in the opposite direction suddenly swerved directly into her path. The resulting direct headon collision totalled both cars. Neither my daughter nor her passenger sustained any injuries beyond superficial bruising--today, they're both sore but functioning normally. The other driver suffered a broken leg, and her passenger was unhurt. Both vehicles' airbags deployed, and all four had buckled up. Whatever reason you've concocted for refusing to buckle up really doesn't do justice to your intelligence.

Rummaging through a junk drawer the other day, I ran across a little government pamphlet that says on the back: "This book is valuable. Do not lose it." It is from the United States office of Price Administration and titled, "War Ration Book No. 3." Inside the book are four pages of 48 ration stamps each. Darned if I can remember exactly how these ration stamps were used -- I was just a kid during the Second World War. But, this book has my name on it, so I kept it. No reason. I just did. My childhood wasn't a...

Veteran won't buckle under in fight against seat belt law Daily Herald Reports Posted 7/20/2004 By Burt Constable The military veteran license plate and the bumper sticker noting "Freedom Is Never Free. Thank You, Vets" hinted that this would be no routine traffic ticket for a seat belt violation. "My freedoms and rights are not accidents to me. I fought for them. I carried the bodies, and parts of bodies, of soldiers who fought for them," says a solemn Steve Riedner, veteran of an airlift squadron during the Vietnam War and current seat belt scofflaw. The 55-year-old tool-and-die maker from...

Is there now a primary seat belt law in AZ (one that allows a traffic stop just for the seat belt violation)? My wife keeps insisting DPS has announced this on the radio, but the last I heard about it, the bill to make it so was defeated at the same time that rural speed limits were increased. I looked on AZ government pages, DPS website, and here, and couldn't find any reference at all.

I am trying to figure out how to get a national petition started, to overturn the "Click it or Ticket" laws and its erosion, further, of individual rights. I am curious how many folk consider The "Click it"campaign to be good, and whether it come through legislation, or did it come about by beaurocratic decree? (From the NHTA site: What Impact Have Primary Safety Belt Laws Had? Primary safety belt laws – laws that allow police officers to pull over a driver and issue a safety belt citation without first observing another offense – have had an enormous effect on...

Evening all…I just found out that someone was killed two weeks ago in a car wreck in California.His name was Corey; he was 28 years old; he wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the vehicle.In 1979 my family moved into the house my mother still owns. Among the neighbors, across lots (one walked through our backyard and theirs to get to their back door) are an elderly couple who have lived there all their lives, raised their children there, and frequently baby-sat two of their grandchildren. We befriended this couple and, by extension, their grandkids, who were...

KING COUNTY - By now you have heard of the statewide "Click It or Ticket" campaign. The Washington State Patrol says it's working because it's getting harder to find offenders. "We are very passionate about it primarily because our main mission is to save lives," says WSP Captain Les Young. A new television public service announcement starts airing Monday to remind drivers the new month-long "Click It Or Ticket" campaign starts May 19th. "It's just not a good enough reason to be handing out citations," says seatbelt law opponent Dan Goebel. Goebel is one of the sponsors of Initiative 836...

$10 Fine For Not Wearing Safety Belt POSTED: 9:39 pm CDT May 28, 2004 UPDATED: 10:47 pm CDT May 28, 2004 MADISON, Wis. -- If you're heading out on the highway this weekend - buckle up or pay the price. SURVEY Do you wear a safety belt in the car? Yes No Sometimes Results | Disclaimer Wisconsin is joining other states in a big crackdown on seat belt use. Additional state patrol officers will be watching for all sorts of violations on the road. But when it comes to seat belts, there will be zero tolerance. The biggest seat belt...

EVEN THOUGH ROUGH WINDS do shake the darling buds thereof, I think we can all agree that May is a fabulous month, flush and lusty as the poets say, a time to gather knots of flowers, and buds and garlands gay. It is the month above all of Mother's Day, made doubly so by the decision of the United States government to transform itself for a few weeks every May into a kind of Mom for everybody--your Mom, my Mom, even our Moms' Mom. And this national Mom has a few things she'd like to get settled right here and...

Police plan seat belt crackdown Friday, 21, 2004 BY TOM TOLEN News Staff Reporter In a campaign dubbed "Buckle Up or Pay Up! Click It or Ticket," local police agencies will join forces with others around the state to launch the summer travel season and seat belt compliance efforts. A total of 350 hours will be devoted to the safety belt enforcement initiative by participating agencies. "We'll have extra patrols," said Lt. Joel Allen, Michigan State Police Brighton post commander. Allen said the enforcement zones will be set up at both ends of a blocked off area on busy county...