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Labor Day seat belt enforcement effort aims to increase Click It or Ticket participation, save lives

This Labor Day weekend, the Clinton Police Department will participate in the national Click It or Ticket campaign in an effort to save lives through increased seat belt use. This enforcement period comes ahead of the Labor Day holiday, one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.

According to research conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, while 88.5 percent of passenger vehicle occupants buckled up in 2015, almost 50 percent of occupants of fatal crashes nationwide are not restrained. In some states, the rate is as high as 70 percent unrestrained in fatal crashes. This fact gravely highlights the need for increased enforcement and awareness of seat belt use.

This year, the Clinton Police Department is aiming to increase seatbelt usage even more by participating in the “Coast to Coast” seat belt enforcement effort, to include all law enforcement around the country.

“As law enforcement, we have a special role in helping protect the safety of our citizens, from surface streets to Interstate 20,” said Chief Ford Hayman. “Time after time, we see the deadly results that come from drivers and passengers refusing to wear a seat belt. Wearing a seat belt is one of the most important steps in increasing survivability in a crash. Our job is to stop those who are not buckled up, and to keep them from repeating this potentially deadly mistake.”

In 2014, nearly half of the 21,022 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes were unrestrained, according to NHTSA. During the nighttime hours of 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., that number increased to 57 percent of those killed. Law enforcement agencies will write citations day and night, with a zero-tolerance approach.

“Hundreds of thousands of citizens will be traveling this Labor Day weekend. We want to make sure that people are buckling up to keep themselves and their families safe. It is the greatest defense in a vehicle crash,” said Hayman.

For more information on the Click It or Ticket campaign, visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.

 

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