St. Helens Increases Road Safety Patrols in February

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 8, 2019

St. Helens, Ore. – Thanks to a grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Safety Division, the St. Helens Police Department was able to put additional patrol officers on the streets of St. Helens during February who were dedicated to seat belt and child seat safety patrols.

The purpose of the ODOT grant is to provide funding to Oregon police agencies so that police departments can afford to put additional officers on the road who are focused on making sure drivers and passengers wear seat belts and use child safety seats.

Safety belts and child safety seats save lives. Research has shown that two-year-old children are five times less likely to die or be seriously injured in a crash if they ride rear-facing. It is very important to secure your children correctly.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “of the 37,461 people killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2016, 48 percent were not wearing seat belts. In 2016 alone, seat belts saved an estimated 14,668 lives and could have saved an additional 2,456 people if they had been wearing seat belts.”

In addition to looking for proper seat belt and child safety seat use, St. Helens officers also made two DUII arrests during the extra patrols, one cell phone use citation, three driving while suspended citations, 11 speeding citations, and 15 other safety citations. In total, 226 traffic stops and 79 traffic citations were issued during the month of February.

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For further information regarding the February safety blitz, please contact St. Helens Sgt. Jose Castilleja at 503-397-3333 or 503-397-1521.