Police, safety experts stress importance of seat belts

According to the Highway Patrol, 13 people killed on South Carolina roads over the past week were not wearing seatbelts.

That includes children killed in accidents in Williamsburg and Horry counties.

Both child safety experts and law enforcement officers agree that child safety seats and seat belts are extremely important in the event of a crash.

Law enforcement officers say the numbers don’t lie when it comes to the amount of people killed in accidents, who were not wearing seatbelts.

Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone said in Florence County alone, there have been 39 deadly accidents this year.

In only 9 of those cases, the people killed were wearing seatbelts.

The other 30 were not restrained.

The numbers are just as bad, if not worse, for children who are not properly restrained in car seats.

“We see people every day who are admitted into our children’s hospital who have been in motor vehicle accidents, and if we could just make sure they’re in the seats correctly, they won’t have as much movement in the car and the side impacts wont be quite as damaging to them,“said Erin Faile of McLeod Health’s Safe Kids program.

Safety and law enforcement experts say the need to buckle up should overwhelm any other need, when it comes to keeping your children safe.

“It’s worth the time it takes to put in the car seat. It’s worth the time to look back and tell your child you love them, that’s all it is, is one more step to let your child know you care and to make sure that they are safe and properly restrained while they are traveling,“ Faile said.

“I just ask that you please restrain these kids, please restrain yourself…it doesn’t take but just a couple seconds to click that seat belt, because it could mean life or death,“ said Boone.

Experts say taking the time to buckle a seat belt or safety seat could mean that you will not be thrown from the vehicle during a wreck, and could ultimately be a decision that saved your life or the life of your child.

Law enforcement officers can pull you over in South Carolina for not wearing a seat belt.

They can also issue you a $25 fine.

To make sure that your children are as protected as they can be while riding in the car, there are a couple of child safety seat checks going on in the area.

In the Pee Dee, Safe Kids Florence hosts child safety seat checks on the third Thursday of each month.

The next one is this Thursday.

Safe Kids is sponsored by McLeod Health and Kohl’s department store.

The seat checks are done in the Kohl’s parking lot, across from Magnolia Mall in Florence.

You can get your car seats checked from 4 to 7 p.m.

Along the Grand Strand, there’s a safety check at Coastal Grand Mall.

Volunteers with the Myrtle Beach Fire Department will be there Saturday, Nov. 28 to make sure your car seats are installed correctly.

Safety checks at the mall are going on from 11 a.m to 2 p.m.