Traffic Safety Education

Overview

Safety is an important aspect in all aspects of our lives. We wish to be safe in our houses, offices, schools, colleges, and on the roads while travelling. One of the most important, and overlooked areas of safety, is traffic safety. Some view traffic laws and regulations as tedious, but the laws and ordinances passed in Missouri, and specifically Olivette, were enacted to help keep all motorists, passengers, and pedestrians safe while on the roadways.

As of 12/29/2016, 600 (over 60%) of the 931 fatalities on Missouri Roadways were not wearing seatbelts. It's a sad statistic to share, but our intent is to bring awareness and promote seat belt usage since a seat belt is your best defense in any traffic crash. Under the Graduated Driver License Law, teens from age 15-18 are required to wear their seat belt and it’s a primary offense if they don’t, meaning they can be pulled over solely for not wearing their seat belt. Beginning in 2014, Olivette officers are able to stop any vehicle solely for lack of seat belt use by either the driver or any front-seat passenger. The City of Olivette is the 43rd municipality in Missouri (18th in St. Louis metropolitan area) to join this seat belt enforcement effort to help save more lives.

Helpful Ordinances

In addition to reminding residents to buckle up and drive safe, the Police Department would like to remind residents about several other ordinances. 

Distracted Driving Ordinance

One of the most dangerous violations that occur on a daily basis in the State of Missouri is distracted driving. Olivette City Ordinance prohibits any conduct that causes the operator’s vision or attention to be diverted, obscured, diminished, or directed away from the path of travel or the operation of the vehicle. Motorists may be stopped for these distractions, which may include, but not limited to, using a mirror or other device to engage in personal grooming, reading anything located in the vehicle other than operational information displayed on vehicle gauges and equipment, eating, drinking, writing, drawing, or inputting information into or otherwise operating a GPS system, mapping device, sound system, or telephone (Olivette Careless and Imprudent Driving Ordinance # 340.160). 

Parking Ordinances

Olivette City Ordinance requires all vehicles parked on the roadways be parked with the right-hand wheels of the vehicle parallel to and within eighteen (18) inches of the right-hand curb. 

Ordinance also prohibits parking: in front of a public or private driveway, within thirty (30) feet of an intersection, within ten (10) feet of a fire hydrant, within six (6) feet of any U.S. mailbox, and within thirty (30) feet upon the approach to any flashing signal, stop sign or traffic control signal located at the side of a roadway. 

Seat Belt Ordinance

The City of Olivette passed a primary seat belt ordinance on October 21st 2014. The ordinance allows police officers to stop a vehicle solely for lack of seat belt use by the driver or any front-seat passenger. Before, another violation was needed to be able to enforce the secondary ordinance. 

​Seat Belt Myths & Facts

MYTH: Belts are uncomfortable or inconvenient.

FACT:

Initially people may find safety belts uncomfortable, confining or inconvenient because they’re not used to wearing them. Those people who have made wearing seat belts a habit can testify that once their use becomes a habit, there is no discomfort or inconvenience.

MYTH: I’d rather be thrown clear in a crash.

FACT:

Being thrown safely clear in a crash is almost impossible. When you’re thrown, you may be thrown through the windshield, scraped along the pavement, or even crushed by your own vehicle or another one. The idea of being thrown from a car and gently landing in a grassy area beside the road is pure fantasy.

MYTH: Belts can hurt you in a crash.

FACT:

Properly worn seat belts seldom cause injuries. If they do, the injuries are usually surface bruises and are generally less severe than would have been the case without any belt. Without the belts, you could probably have been thrown out of the vehicle and been injured severely. It is true that sometimes the force of a crash is so great that nothing could have prevented injuries.

MYTH: I’m not going far and I won’t be going fast.

FACT:

This is the comment that so many people living in rural areas use when asked why they do not wear a safety belt. It’s important to remember that most crash deaths occur within 25 miles of home and at speeds of less than 40 miles per hour. This emphasizes that everyday driving from just one neighbor’s home to another, to school, to the store or just one farm to another poses the greatest danger.

MYTH: I’m a good driver, it won’t happen to me.

FACT:

You may be a good driver but you cannot always control the other drivers on the road. The statistics related to motor vehicle crashes and drunk drivers are devastating. Even if you are driving defensively, a drunk driver coming around the next curve may not be. Again, you never know what might happen. Play it safe. Buckle up every time -- every trip.