Published: May 20, 2008 12:41 am            

‘Click It or Ticket’ to promote seat belt safety

The Huntsville Police Department will be conducting a “Click It or Ticket” enforcement mobilization through June 1, during which officers working overtime will be on the lookout for drivers not wearing their seat belts.

According to HPD Sgt. James Fitch, the purpose of the enforcement is not to write a large number of citations, but to educate the public on the laws and benefits of wearing a seat belt.

“Over the past week, the department has completed a survey by observing occupants in vehicles here in Huntsville,” he said. “We learned that only 84.3 percent of drivers and 79.9 percent of passengers were seen wearing their safety belts, and those numbers are well below the state average of 90.4 percent.

“This creates a huge concern for us, so during this intensified enforcement, our goal is to educate people about the importance of wearing a seatbelt in order to eventually gain compliance with the law.”

During the enforcement operation, Fitch said anywhere between one and three additional officers will be paid each shift to participate in the campaign.

“We’ll have more officers on duty who will actually be getting paid overtime money through a state grant,” he said. “The purpose of that grant is to get officers out working extra hours, so during each shift, there could be as many as three additional officers on duty who are issuing citations for driving without a seatbelt.”

Fitch said the campaign, which began Monday, got off to a strong start.

“Just today, I had one officer I talked to who had written approximately 20 citations within six hours,” he said. “It’s really surprising to us how many people are not abiding by the law.

“Using safety belts doesn’t cost a dime, but not using them will cost you a citation during this intensified enforcement. When you’re in a vehicle, you always have a chance of being injured, but those chances definitely go up drastically when you’re not wearing your seatbelt.”

The department is also participating in an educational campaign to convince pickup truck occupants in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and other areas to wear their seatbelts.

Fitch said well over one million pickup truck drivers and passengers in the five-state region are not buckling up, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,000 pickup occupants dying every year in accidents.

“This educational campaign is needed in our state,” Fitch said. “Both ‘Click It or Ticket’ and ‘Buckle Up in Your Truck’ are more than campaign slogans. They are good pieces of advice that people can live with every day.”

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.