By Kristin Zagurski
On April 23, 24 and 25, members of UNO’s Wellness Stampede set up barricades at various campus locations to perform seat belt checks.
Students and faculty and staff members were stopped at three locations as they drove into campus: the parking structure on April 23, University Village and Library lots K and M April 24 and Health, Physical Education and Recreation Lot O April 25.
A total of 1,347 seat belts were checked — 67 percent of students and 78 percent of faculty and staff members wore their seat belts, said Marcy Ruckman, a graduate assistant in fitness and wellness.
The event came nearly a month before the national event Buckle Up America, which will be held May 20-27. During that week, law enforcement agencies nationwide will actively enforce seat belt and child passenger safety laws. A special emphasis will be placed on getting teenage drivers to buckle up this year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Web site at www.nhtsa.dot.gov.
Buckle Up America is a campaign to encourage proper seat belt and child safety seat use and is coordinated by the NHTSA with the assistance of the Academy for Educational Development, according to www.buckleupamerica.org.
