Traffic Safety

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Traffic Unit

Traffic Unit
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office
P.O. Box 100
Hillsboro, Missouri 63050

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Deputies demonstrate a DWI arrest and critical traffic
accident for students at Herculaneum High School during
"mock accident" day.

Did you know...

	An average of one alcohol-related fatality occurs every 30 minutes.
	Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers.
	Almost one-third of the pedestrians killed in 1996 were intoxicated.
	Traffic crashes cost employers almost $55 billion a year. Alcohol is a factor in 41 percent of these crashes.
	The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that the 21-year-old minimum drinking age laws have reduced traffic fatalities involving 18- to 20-years-olds by 13 percent.
	Almost two-thirds of youth motor vehicle fatalities occur in rural areas.
	High risk behaviors threaten military readiness; the Army supports zero tolerance for impaired driving.
	Increasing law enforcement patrol activity will decrease traffic crashes caused by impaired drivers.
	Two-thirds of drivers involved in alcohol-related traffic fatalities have a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .14 or higher.
	Twenty one- to 34-year-old impaired drivers are involved in approximately 50 percent of all alcohol-related fatal crashes.
	There has been a 65 percent reduction of intoxicated young drivers involved in fatal crashes since 1982.
	About 2 out of every 5 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives.
	Between midnight and 3:00a.m., 78 percent of speeding drivers involved in fatal crashes have been drinking.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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	Why child safety seats are needed: Every year, hundreds of Missouri children are killed or injured from being thrown against dashboards and windshields in a crash. Often this happens when a collision is avoided by a sudden stop or swerve. Properly securing children in vehicles is the easiest and the most effective protection. Consider a few facts:
	When a car has a collision or suddenly stops at 20 mph, an unrestrained baby can hit the dashboard or windshield with the force of 400 pounds.
	At 30 mph, a 125-pound adult is thrown forward with the force of nearly two tons. A child on that adult's lap can be crushed between the adult and the vehicle -- good reason why the "baby in arms" seating position is not safe.
	A correctly used safety seat prevents a child from being thrown about or out of the vehicle, and distributes the force of a crash more evenly over the child's boby. Also, because the child seat is basically part of the vehicle, the vehicle itself absorbs some of the impact.
	All 50 states and D.C. now have child passenger safety laws.

Child Safety Seat Information