BY KARI BLURTON
Hays Post

Don’t be alarmed when you see extra troopers from the Kansas Highway Patrol and other local law enforcement hanging around area high schools this week.

The annual Seat Belts are for Everyone Campaign, sponsored by  the Kansas Department of Transportation, begins Monday and runs though March 6.

According to Kansas Highway Patrol Public Resource Officer Technical Trooper Tod Hileman, the peer-run program begins in October when students in the SAFE program spread monthly messages within their high schools describing the importance of seat belt usage.

“The teens do a really good job of pushing that safety message in high school and getting their peers to always put a seat belt on,” Hileman said. “We do tell the kids who are in the SAFE program to start warning their peers when this enforcement is coming up — not that every day is an enforcement period — but this one is more specialized when there will be a lot of troopers around that high school.

“It will be a lot harder to escape being seen if you don’t have a seat-belt on,” he added.

Hileman said since the program began seven years ago, teen seat belt usage has risen.

“The good thing is, since this program has been running, most of people we catch around the high school are adults. We rarely ever catch a teen. So adults: You might want to buckle-up the next fee weeks,”  Hileman said.

Hileman said the extra enforcement will be at high schools in Hays, Russell, Hill City, Oberlin, Phillipsburg, Damar, Palco, Grainfield, Smith Center and Russell.