HomeMy WebLinkAboutProclamation 99- Buckle Up Bozeman Week May 24-31 1999
PROCLAMATION
BUCKLE UP BOZEMAN WEEK
May 24.31, 1999
WHEREAS, Buckle Up America and the May 1999 Operation ABC Mobilization: America !J..uckles Up
Children/''Zero Tolerance for Unbuckled Children" and Buckle Up Bozeman, are forging broad,
community~based partnerships to increase the proper use of seat belts and child safety seats to
90 percent by 2005, thereby saving our community precious lives and taxpayer dollars; and
WHEREAS, since increasing seat belt use is still the single most effective way to save lives and reduce injuries
in crashes on America's roadways; and
WHEREAS, in-patient hospital care costs for unbuckled crash victims are 50 percent higher than for those
who are buckled, and 85 percent of those medical costs are borne by society, which signifies the
degree to which we all pay for unbelted occupants; and
WHEREAS, by increasing the seat belt use rate from 68 percent to 90 percent, an estimated 5,536 fatalities
and 132,670 injuries would be prevented, child fatalities would be reduced by 25 percent, and
the nation would save $8.8 billion annually; and
WHEREAS, since research shows that if a driver is unbuckled, 70 percent of the time children in that car are
also unbuckled; and
WHEREAS, a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has affirmed that states with
standard enforcement laws have significantly higher seat belt and child safety seat use, and that
the correct use of seat belts has contributed to a decrease in the number of fatalities by up to
45 percent, and that tlle effectiveness of correctly installed child safety seats reduces fatal injury
by 69 percent for infants and children.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Alfred M. Stiff, Mayor of the City of Bozeman, do hereby proclaim May 24
through 31, 1999 as
"BUCKLE UP BOZEMAN WEEK"
in the City of Bozeman, and support and endorse the public education initiatives of Buckle Up America and
Buckle Up Bozeman and encourage the publidprivate partnership among public officials, law enforcement
agencies, associations, community and health groups and businesses to work to ensure that all children and
adults buckle up.
I further support and encourage law enforcement in their efforts to promote and visibly enforce compliance
with seat belt and child safety seat laws of the State of Montana to safe lives, reduce injury and save Montana
taxpayer monies.
SEAL IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand
and caused the Great Seal of the City of Bozeman, in the
State of Montana, to be affixed at Bozeman, Montana, tllis
17th day of May in tlle year of our Lord One Thousand
Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine.
~/@/~
ALF M. STIFF, Mayor