(Radio Iowa) – A spokesperson for the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau says there are some simple things you can do to stay safe as you head home today (Monday) from the long holiday weekend. Jenie Sterbenz says with the shutdown for the pandemic, and some people driving less, we don’t remember some of the rules of the road. “It does seem that people have kind of forgotten the safety part of driving — driving the speed limit, wearing your seat belt, putting that phone down,” she says. Sterbenz says driving is not the time to be multitasking.

“When you’re driving that’s where your attention should be is on driving, not messing with the radio eating or watching a movie or playing with your phone,” she says. “We know that those are all distractions and they can cause your mind to be elsewhere.” You may be following all of the rules but still get into an accident. Sterbenz says wearing your seat belt is good protection for anything that happens on the roadway. “Forty-one percent of our traffic fatalities here in the state of Iowa, to date, have not been buckled up. That’s rather disturbing, especially since we’ve had the law in effect since 1986,” Sterbenz. “Even though we do have a great percentage of people buckling up, we still have those people that are not buckling up are the ones that seem to be involved in those fatality crashes.”

There will be extra officers out on the roadways looking for violations today (Monday). Sterbenz says they just want everyone to get into good driving habits again so the number of fatal and other types of crashes drop.