Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, students in Cherokee County once again participated in the Seatbelts Are For Everyone (SAFE) Program. The SAFE Program is designed to educate and encourage students about traffic safety and the importance of buckling up and is supported locally by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and the Kansas Traffic Safety Resource Office.

As part of SAFE, a baseline survey is conducted in the fall after school starts and another survey is conducted towards the end of school to gauge its effectiveness. Students from Baxter Springs, Columbus, Galena, and Riverton High Schools help run the SAFE Program on their respective campuses, with the school ending the year with the highest compliance rate and the school with the highest increase in seatbelt usage each earning grand prizes. Columbus High School saw the highest increase in seatbelt usage among students and the students at Baxter Springs achieved the highest overall usage rate in the county.

The SAFE Program was created in 2008 in Crawford County and now can be found in 149 Kansas High Schools across 65 counties and has also started to spread to other states in the Midwest region.