© 2024 WVIK
Listen at 90.3 FM and 98.3 FM in the Quad Cities, 95.9 FM in Dubuque, or on the WVIK app!
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Border to Border, Clicket or Ticket

Illinois State Police

Law enforcement from Iowa and Illinois have joined forces to promote traffic safety during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. They're making a concerted effort to remind everyone to wear seat belts.

Captain Jason Dickey, commander of the Illinois State Police district based in East Moline, says seat belts can reduce injuries in crashes by up to 60 per cent. 

"According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, of the 37,133 people killed nationwide in motor vehicle crashes in 2017, 47 per cent were not wearing their seat belt. In 2017 alone, seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives."

Lieutenant Brian Votroubec, from the Iowa State Patrol, says about one-third of the people who died in traffic crashes in Iowa so far this year, were not wearing seat belts. 

"Our law in Iowa says if you're over 18 and in the back seat, you don't need to have a seat belt, but we recommend everyone, no matter how old you are, in a motor vehicle, back seat or front seat, you should always buckle up."

Since seat belt laws were approved in both states during the 1990's, compliance has risen to 94 per cent today in Iowa and Illinois. 

The campaign, Border to Border Clicket or Ticket, officially began ten days ago, and continues through May 28, the day after Memorial Day. 

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.