SACRAMENTO, Calif.—In just a matter of days, law enforcement agencies throughout the state will participate in the national Click It or Ticket campaign aimed at saving lives through increased seat belt use. This special education and enforcement effort will take place from May 23, 2016 to June 5, just ahead of Memorial Day weekend, one of the busiest travel periods of the year. The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and California Highway Patrol (CHP) remind all drivers and passengers to buckle up not only during this special enforcement period, but every time they get into a motor vehicle.
“This Memorial Day period and, in fact, every day, we want everyone in every vehicle to remember that buckling up could be their greatest defense in a crash,” said Rhonda Craft, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety. “Putting on a seat belt is one of the quickest, simplest and most effective ways to ensure you and your loved ones remain safe and sound on the road.”
This year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is aiming to increase Click It or Ticket campaign participation even more by coordinating a “Coast to Coast” seat belt education and enforcement effort around specific interstate corridors, including I-10, I-40 and I-80 which run through California. Although the corridors will be targeted in the effort, education and enforcement by the California Highway Patrol and law enforcement agencies statewide will not be limited solely to those areas. Law enforcement agencies throughout the state will join the “Coast to Coast” effort to bring awareness of the safety aspects of seat belt usage along with enforcement of seat belt laws.
“During this busy time on our roadways, we witness first-hand the devastation caused by people who fail to buckle up,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Two-thirds of those who died in collisions during last year’s Memorial Day weekend were not wearing seat belts. The simplest fix for reducing death and injury on the roadway is for all vehicle occupants to buckle up on every trip.”
According to research conducted by NHTSA, while 88.5 percent of passenger vehicle occupants buckled up in 2015, almost 50 percent of occupants of fatal crashes were not restrained. In California, more than a half million adults and children travel our roadways at grave risk without proper restraints. These facts highlight the need for increased education, awareness, and enforcement of seat belt and child safety seat use.
For more information on the Click It or Ticket campaign, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot. To learn more on OTS’ traffic safety efforts, visit www.ots.ca.gov.
Contacts
California Office of Traffic Safety
Chris Cochran,
916-509-3063
chris.cochran@ots.ca.gov
