Law-enforcement officials start Click It or Ticket
Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/61813/
BENTON COUNTY — It’s time once again for drivers to buckle up or face the consequences.
Beginning Monday, the Rogers and Bentonville police departments will join surrounding police departments across the country in the annual Click It or Ticket seat-belt-enforcement mobilization through June 1.
The departments will have extra patrols out during this time period, enforcing seatbelt and DWI laws.
In 2006, 15, 046 passenger-vehicle occupants died in traffic crashes between the hours of 6 p. m. and 5: 59 a. m., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Of those, 64 percent were not wearing their seat belts at the time of the fatal crashes. When worn correctly, seat belts have proven to reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger-car occupants by 45 percent, and by 60 percent in pickup trucks, SUVs and minivans.
The proportion of unbuckled deaths at night is considerably higher than the alarming 46 percent of passenger-vehicle occupants who were killed and were not wearing their seats belts during daytime hours across the nation that same year, according to the NHTSA.
Click It or Ticket is a nationwide enforcement campaign to increase seat-belt use and reduce highway fatalities. The mobilization is conducted annually by the NHTSA in conjunction with law-enforcement agencies, state highway safety offices and traffic safety advocates. The law-enforcement effort is supported by more than $ 7. 5 million in national advertisements funded through Congress. The national ads, produced by the NHTSA in English and Spanish, encourage all motorists to always buckle up — every time.
Since 1996, the national seat-belt-use rate has increased from 68 percent to 82 percent.