Johnson’s Corner – Tickets totaling $83 have convinced Greg Ring that it is time he started buckling up when he gets behind the wheel of his pickup.
But he does so grudgingly. “Granted, it probably saves lives,” Ring said, while stretched out in the cab of his late-model truck during his lunch break Tuesday. “I just hate people telling me ‘you have to do this.”‘
“Hey, if I die in a crash,” Ring added, “that’s my business, and I’ll be out of your hair.”
That same attitude has hobbled efforts at getting more people who drive pickups to put on their seat belts before they travel on Colorado highways, say law enforcement officials.
Still, the Colorado State Patrol and local law officers are renewing their push to get more pickup drivers to use their seat belts.
“The Click It or Ticket” campaign will be featured on 17 billboards around the state, coupled with a “Buckle Up in Your Truck” push that includes television, radio and newspaper ads. The ads emphasize that pickups roll more often than other vehicles and that chances of surviving are greatly increased if passengers and drivers are buckled up.
The state is targeting its efforts in Larimer and Weld counties, where pickup use is high, as are road-related fatalities.
In Weld County, 78 drivers and passengers died in traffic crashes last year, and 51 of the victims did not use seat belts, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. The county also saw the highest number of traffic deaths occurring in pickups in the state.
Thirteen of the deaths were people riding in pickups and eight of those victims did not use seat belts, according to CDOT.
In neighboring Larimer County, 22 drivers and passengers died in traffic crashes and seven of the victims were not buckled up. Three of the deaths were people riding in pickups, one of which rolled over during the crash and the person killed was not using a seat belt, CDOT said.
The problem is that many pickup drivers think they are invulnerable in any crash, said Tom Norton, executive director of CDOT.
“While pickup trucks are large and can give the driver a sense of being safe,” Norton said, “the fact is trucks are twice as likely to roll as other vehicles.”
Statewide, seat belt use in pickups used for personal transportation is only 68.3 percent, compared with 83.7 percent for sport utility vehicles, 82.8 percent for vans and 80.7 percent for cars.
Many pickup owners don’t appreciate any law that forces them to strap themselves in, said Ken Poncelow, commander of the Weld County sheriff’s traffic unit.
“There are lot of folks out there who think government shouldn’t be able to tell you what to do in their own vehicle,” Poncelow said. “There is a certain amount of stubbornness.”
Those feelings helped narrowly kill an effort this year to pass a primary seat belt law in Colorado. Currently, police can ticket adults for failing to buckle up only if they are stopped for some other reason.
Several law enforcement agencies backed the primary seat-belt proposal, said Rep. Fran Coleman, D-Denver. But some lawmakers thought it would infringe on personal rights and fuel racial profiling, resulting in a single-vote defeat in the legislature, Coleman said.
“You have people who absolutely hate to be told what to do,” said Coleman, who may re-introduce the bill next year. “It’s so important because I believe it will save lives.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
