Ravenna – During the Portage County Click it or Ticket Kickoff Event at Aurora Farms on May 19, Brianna Michaels received recognition for her life-saving choices to wear her seat belt and being a role model to others. The 2018 “Saved By the Belt” Award was presented by Aurora Police Department.
“Saved by the Belt” is an effort to increase seat belt usage by sharing examples of people who have been saved from death or serious injuries from properly wearing seat belts.
Portage County Safe Communities, a program of Portage County Health District, received a nomination from Lt. Andrew Lumpkins, Aurora Police Department stating, “On December 20, 2017, Brianna was a passenger in a vehicle that had lost control and crashed on Parker Road in Aurora, Ohio. The vehicle was badly damaged and Brianna had to be extricated from the vehicle by the Aurora Fire Department. Despite being trapped in the vehicle, Brianna had only minor injuries, which is largely due to her use of her seatbelt.”
Seat belts save lives. Worn properly, seat belts are your best protection against injury in a crash. The current Portage County seat belt usage rate is 80.8%. In May, 2015, the usage rate was 76.4% (both rates were provided by Miami University compiled from seat belt surveys.) Safe Communities’ goal is to promote the seat belt campaign and increase the county usage rate to reduce preventable fatal crashes.
Portage County law enforcement will be participating in the national Click it or Ticket Campaign May 21 through June 3 – aggressively enforcing Ohio traffic laws and seat belt usage with zero tolerance, zero excuses, and zero warnings,” said Lynette Blasiman, Project Director of Safe Communities.
