HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Additional eyes will be on all high schools in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma during the first two weeks of March in an effort to reduce teen traffic fatalities.
Locally, from Feb. 29 through March 13, the Hutchinson Police Department, Reno County Sheriff’s Office and Kansas Highway Patrol will step up seat belt and other traffic enforcement near Hutchinson High School and other high schools in the county. Officers will be watching for seat belt violations as well as cell phone texting and other distracted driving issues.
In 2015, 13 teens died in Kansas, of which 40 percent of the individuals were not properly restrained in their vehicles.
“Even one teen death is unacceptable,” Dick Heitschmidt, Hutchinson’s chief of police, said. “Please slow down, put the phone away or turn it off, and always buckle up.”
For more than 30 years, law enforcement officers have educated and warned passengers and drivers regarding the importance of using restraints while in their vehicle. Officers will issue citations to any individual who refuses to obey the traffic laws, whether it is for speeding, texting or failing to buckle up.
In Hutchinson, the fine for anyone 17 and younger caught without a seat belt in a car is $60.