“Buckle Buddies” Launches

The South Carolina Department of Public Safety launched a new program today called “Buckle Buddies” which is for promoting the correct use of child safety seats and seat belts.  The program was spearheaded by a communications coordinator at Palmetto Health who was disturbed by the fact that the state didn’t have a system in which people could call in and report unrestrained children in cars, despite the fact that you can report someone who litters.

In this news article she said, “I’ve always been conscientious about strapping in my children, and it irritated me when I saw people driving around on the interstate with a kid jumping around in the backseat.”  She started to do some research on the programs offered in other states and secured funding from Kohl’s Department Stores to get the program off the ground.

You will know be able to call a hotline with the license plate number of a driver who has failed to restrain their children properly.  That driver will then be mailed a letter explaining the violation along with an informational brochure.  The parent of a young girl who was nearly killed in an accident where she should have been in a booster seat stated, “If you can get people to understand the importance of child seats and booster seats maybe it’ll make them stop and think ‘What do I need to do differently?”

As a Columbia personal injury lawyer , I think a program such as this is long overdue.  I hope that it will continue to push the downward trend of car accident fatalities for the 0-14 age group in South Carolina.