U.S. Transportation Secretary Mineta Launches Largest-Ever Law Enforcement Mobilization for Traffic Safety

Topics:  Norman Y. Mineta

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
May 20, 2002

NHTSA 42-02
Monday, May 20, 2002
Contact: Belinda Rawls
Tel. No. (202) 366-9550

Making Memorial Day Travel Safer

U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta today launched Operation ABC (America Buckles Up Children) Seat Belt Law Enforcement Mobilization, the largest ever nationwide law enforcement program aimed at increasing seat belt use and enforcement of child restraint laws.

"Teens and young adults are killed at far higher rates in crashes because they are caught in a lethal intersection of inexperience, risk taking and low seat belt use," said Secretary Mineta. "These tragedies are predictable and therefore preventable, using proven techniques like high visibility enforcement mobilizations, which the Bush Administration will continue to support as it works with its partners in law enforcement and within the traffic safety community to reduce injuries and help save lives."

The emphasis of this year's mobilization of law enforcement officers for traffic safety is on protecting younger drivers. New data show more than half of all teens who die in crashes are completely unrestrained. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Fatal Analysis Reporting System, 4,216 teens, ages 16-19, died and thousands more were injured in traffic crashes in 2000. Fatality rates for teens are twice that of older drivers and the risk of crashes for teens is four times that of older drivers.

More than 11,000 law enforcement agencies will be monitoring traffic and issuing tickets this week as part of Operation ABC Mobilization. From May 20-27, officers coast-to-coast will blanket road with checkpoints and stepped up patrols, sharply intensifying enforcement of seat belt and child restraint laws. Laws in all 50 states and the District of Columbia require that children be restrained, yet six out of ten children who die in crashes are unbuckled.

"In 2000, 12,737 people died during the summer months between Memorial Day and Labor Day," said NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey W. Runge, M.D. "We want to lower that number, and these mobilizations reinforce the message that the easiest way to save a life is to buckle up 'Every Trip. Every Time.' Vehicle occupants always need to use seat belts."

This is the 10th wave of Operation ABC, which dovetails with national Buckle Up America Week and the intensive Click It Or Ticket law enforcement mobilization being conducted in 28 States and Washington, DC.

Operation ABC, which is sponsored by the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, is an intensive education and action effort by a public/private partnership of automobile manufacturers, insurance companies, occupant restraint manufacturers, child safety seat manufacturers, government agencies, health professionals and child health and safety organizations.

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