Maryland Law Enforcement Joins Nationwide 'Click It or Ticket' Initiative to Save Lives

          Law Enforcement Launches Buckle Up Campaign Statewide;
                  Their Message is Seat Belts Save Lives

  What:       Kickoff of the statewide Click It or Ticket campaign by
              Maryland law enforcement officials, Maryland State Highway
              Administration's Highway Safety Office, MD Committee For
              Safety Belt Use, and the National Highway Traffic Safety
              Administration's Mid-Atlantic Region Office - Nighttime seat
              belt enforcement to be conducted in each of Maryland's 24
              jurisdictions.  Special educational campaign for pickup truck
              drivers and passengers introduced.

  Who:        State Highway Administrator and Governor's Safety
              Representative Neil J. Pedersen; University of Maryland
              Police Chief Kenneth Krouse (Past-President, MD Chiefs of
              Police Association); Maryland State Police Lieutenant Colonel
              Michael Fischer (Commander Field Operations Bureau); NHTSA
              Mid-Atlantic Region Administrator Dr. Elizabeth Baker; and
              Law Enforcement officials representing Maryland's 105
              participating agencies

  When:       Monday, May 22, 2006 at 11:00 a.m.

  Where:      The ESPN Zone at 601 East Pratt Street - Baltimore, Maryland

  Photo Ops:  Teens, crash survivors "saved by the belt," and law
              enforcement officers riding the Seat Belt Convincer
              (simulates crash impact); reporters also can ride the
              Convincer.  Unveiling of Maryland's new NASCAR-themed pickup
              truck campaign, Buckle Up After Every Pit Stop, and law
              enforcement billboards that will be placed at strategic
              locations throughout the State.

One hundred and five Maryland law enforcement agencies will join more than 12,000 allied agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in an unprecedented enforcement initiative to increase seat belt use starting this week. During Click It or Ticket, officers in Maryland will conduct more than 100 checkpoints and seat belt enforcement zones to stop and ticket drivers who violate seat belt and child passenger safety laws. In Maryland, in 2004, nearly 60 percent of vehicle occupants killed in nighttime crashes were not wearing seat belts at the time of the crash; therefore, a special emphasis will be placed on enforcing Maryland's laws at night. In addition to the nighttime enforcement zones conducted during the heavily traveled Memorial Day weekend, education will be conducted with an emphasis on pickup trucks, whose drivers and occupants buckle up less than those in other vehicles.

Click It or Ticket is part of the national Operation ABC Mobilization campaign, this year involving hundreds of thousands of officers throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. In Maryland, the campaign coordinators are the Chiefs of Police Association, MD Committee For Safety Belt Use, and MD State Highway Administration's Highway Safety Office.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

For more information about the Maryland "Click It or Ticket" initiative, the Maryland Chiefs' Challenge campaign, or other information about safety belts, child safety seats, and booster seats, please call Barbara Beckett, Maryland Committee For Safety Belt Use, at (410) 787-5893 or toll-free at 1-888-963-0307, ext. 5893. A contact list of local law enforcement coordinators in each of Maryland's 23 Counties and Baltimore City also can be obtained from the Committee office.

Meg Miller 410-787-4077

PRNewswire -- May 18