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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Nationwide Campaign for Safe Driving-Click it or Ticket


MCC Personal Health and Safety Committee JOINS NATIONWIDE Campaign for Safe Driving -Click it or Ticket! - Buckle Up to Save Lives

During [Click It or Ticket/ the Operation ABC Mobilization], law enforcement officers will intensify enforcement of seat belt and child passenger safety laws. Seat belt violators and drivers failing to restrain their child passengers will be ticketed. Notice the banner on the fence of the tennis courts adjacent to parking lot G.

High-visibility enforcement relies on periods of intense enforcement of seat belt laws coupled with aggressive communications to let people know about the enforcement. For many non-seat belt users, and especially young people, the threat of a ticket has proven to be a greater inducement to buckle up than the threat of injury or death. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), if every state conducted high-visibility enforcement, 5,000 to 7,000 lives could be saved each year.

Teens will continue to be a key target of [Click It or Ticket/ the Operation ABC Mobilization] as well. Fatality rates for teens are twice that of older drivers, and the risk of crashes for teens is four times that of older drivers. This year, approximately 8,000 Americans, adults and children, will die in crashes simply because they failed to buckle their seat belts.

Thanksgiving is one of the most dangerous holidays for motorists. The National Safety Council predicts that 575 people will die and 30,500 people will suffer disabling injuries resulting from traffic crashes during the Thanksgiving holiday period.

The Mobilizations began in 1997 to decrease the staggering number of children who were being killed in crashes each year simply because they were unrestrained. The Mobilizations are a partnership of law enforcement, state highway safety offices, the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign of the National Safety Council, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board. The Mobilization is also part of Buckle Up America, an ongoing national initiative to increase belt use and save lives.

Law enforcement officers participate in the Mobilizations because they save lives. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) reported recently that child fatalities from traffic crashes have declined by 20 percent since 1997, when the Mobilizations began, and more than 39 million more Americans are buckling up. The DOT has credited the Mobilizations for significantly contributing to this decline and for dramatically increasing adult and child restraint use.

Leah Dyer
Public Safety
11/18/2002