Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre announced multiple seat belt checkpoints will be conducted throughout the Lafourche Parish area during the evening hours of Friday, April 21. These checkpoints are being conducted as part of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission’s “Buckle Up In Your Truck” campaign which begins Friday, April 21 and continues through Thursday, April 27.

During these checkpoints, deputies will be checking motorists for seat belt and safety seat violations, as well as for proper inspection tags and insurance. These checkpoints are designed to help raise awareness for these types of violations and make the highways of the parish safer for all motorists.

Deputies conducted a seat belt checkpoint on Thursday, April 20 along the northbound lane of LA Highway 1 in Mathews. A total of 830 vehicles passed through the checkpoint, and deputies reported the following violations: five vehicle occupants with no seat belt and nine expired motor vehicle inspection stickers.

According to the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, pick-up trucks comprise 25 percent of the vehicle fleet in Louisiana. State observation surveys and fatality data show that pickup truck drivers and passengers fall well behind occupants of other kinds of passenger vehicles when it comes to wearing seat belts. Pick-up trucks are two times more likely to rollover than cars in fatal crashes. The “Buckle Up In Your Truck” campaign involves high-visibility enforcement and awareness to encourage seat belt usage and reduce unrestrained fatalities among our pick-up truck drivers and passengers. Taking the time to buckle up before every trip is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself in a crash.