Tickets Issued During Seat Belt Check at Ithaca Park

One of the big initiatives over the past several years has been violations of seat belts and child restraints laws, and in case you didn’t know that goes for Parks as well.

I grew up in a world were very few people ever wore seatbelts, in fact most people would either cut them out of their car, or push them into the interior upholstery.

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Child seats were worse than the baby doll seats my grandchildren play with, and looking back we could have saved millions of lives collectively, if we have followed today’s seatbelt laws.

In 1984 Governor Mario Cuomo made New York State the first state to mandate the seatbelt law.  Prior to that, approximately 1/6 of people actually used them. Today it's over 90%

We know that one of the safest choices we can make when we get into our vehicles is to buckle up, but did you know the laws go beyond the open road.

According to a news release from the New York State Police, seatbelts and child seats are required even when driving through a state park.

The news release stated that on August 6^th the NYS Police along with the park police at Taughannock State Park just up the road in Ithaca, NY conducted a seatbelt safety check as a Park Occupant Safety Initiative.

If you thought seatbelt and safety seat violators would not be ticketed in a park, guess again.

The release noted that during this particular search of roughly 1,200 vehicles, 19 tickets were issued. The breakdown is as follows: 7 seatbelt violations, I child restraint, 1 cell phone, and 10 miscellaneous.

Apparently, you can't talk on your cell phone when driving though a park either and that is a good rule anytime but especially where people are within the confines of a crowded and active park environment.

Now that you know, please share this article with others and be safe while moving in a vehicle, remember to buckle up.