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American Morning

National Safety Council President: Police to Crack Down on Seat Belt Enforcement

Aired May 21, 2001 - 09:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A new report on seat belts says more than 60 million Americans, including 15 million children, ride unbuckled every day.

We get details on this report from CNN's Jeanne Meserve, joining us from Washington.

Good morning -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles.

After years of warnings and stepped-up enforcement, the National Safety Council says too many Americans still hit the road without buckling up themselves or their children. Only California scores an A in enforcement and reducing fatalities.

States in green on this map did well, while those in yellow received a fair grade; states in red are below average, or they are failing.

With the busiest travel weekend just days away, more than 10,000 law enforcement agencies will be on the road, ready to ticket drivers who ignore seat belt laws.

The president of the National Safety Council, Alan McMillan, is here to talk about the latest crackdown.

Thanks for joining us.

For 35 years, Americans have been hearing the message "buckle up; it saves lives." Why are so many people still not doing it?

ALAN MCMILLAN, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL: We are doing a little better, of course, but we're not doing nearly well enough. The United States still trails most developed countries around the world in protecting people in vehicles by wearing seat belts. If we here in the United States could just bring all of the states up to the level of California -- the only state that scores an A -- we would save 5,000 to 7,000 more lives every year. Where else can we do that in the United States to save that many lives?

MESERVE: A new program called "click it or ticket" is getting under way in eight states. It includes an advertising campaign. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: If you're not buckled up, you better listen up. If you're stopped for an offense, and you're not buckled up, you'd better listen up: Law enforcement officers are cracking down on everyone who doesn't buckle up and doesn't buckle up kids.

It's zero tolerance. They're doing it to save lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: There you see one of the advertisements. I want to quote from a report that's just out that says "posters, key chains, and TV advertising that simply tell people to buckle up for safety do not work, and hundreds of millions of scarce highway safety dollars have been wasted on such efforts." Yet this campaign getting under way spends $3.25 million on advertising. Explain that.

MCMILLAN: I think that are three things that need to happen. States have to have good, strong seat belt laws, they make the public aware of those good laws, and they need to make the public aware that they will do strict and fair enforcement.

MESERVE: This program is taking place in eight Southern states, Southeastern states. Only two of those are states that got Fs in your ranking of the states. Why is that the area of the geographic area that this campaign is concentrating on?

MCMILLAN: The campaign is going to be nationwide. There will be more than 10,000 law enforcement agencies around the entire nation -- from all 50 states -- in the Southeast. They've done a good job of really bringing the entire region together, so that when one person travels from one state to another, they're going to see a similar look. There will be zero tolerance, and there will be high visibility enforcement from now throughout the Memorial Day weekend.

MESERVE: In that part of the country, is there a particular segment of the population that is resistant to using seat belts?

MCMILLAN: I think that we see, in that part of the country, the thing that we see everywhere else, and that is that we have people that simply are not buckling up, even though everybody's aware that that is the most powerful way to save lives in vehicles. Those people are the ones we're trying to reach, and not just in the Southeast, but throughout the country.

MESERVE: Alan McMillan, National Safety Council, thanks so much for joining us.

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