CDOT to use giant grenade to promote seat-belt use

The Colorado Department of Transportation hopes that an unconventional tactic will help encourage seat-belt use among Colorado drivers.

CDOT will unveil a 9-foot-tall grenade at an event beginning at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the University of Colorado Denver Auraria campus, at the corner of Ninth Street and Larimer Plaza.

The grenade will launch CDOT’s 2017 “Beware of the Beltless” seat belt safety campaign. It will be displayed in public spaces around the Denver metro area in the next few months.

The grenade, which was made to resemble an unbuckled seat belt, will likely turn heads and spark conversation, CDOT said. The goal is to encourage people to start seeing an unbuckled person as a dangerous object, capable of causing serious harm in a crash.

A CDOT representative and a car crash victim who was seriously hurt by an unbuckled friend will give brief statements after the presentation.