Coast-to-Coast Seat Belt Enforcement Ready For Memorial Day

 Posted By CotoBlogzz

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA  – From May 23 to June 5, 2016, local law enforcement personnel, including the California Highway Patrol (CHP,) and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD,) will participate in the national Click It or Ticket campaign in an effort to save lives through increased seat belt use. This education enforcement period comes ahead of the Memorial Day holiday, one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.

According to research conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, while 88.5 percent of passenger vehicle occupants buckled up in 2015, almost 50 percent of occupants of fatal crashes nationwide are not restrained. In some states, the rate is as high as 70 percent unrestrained in fatal crashes.  In California, more than a half million people travel our roadways at grave risk without proper restraints. These facts gravely highlight the need for increased education, awareness and enforcement and awareness of seat belt use.

In 2014, nearly half of the 21,022 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes nationally were unrestrained, according to NHTSA. During the nighttime hours of 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., that number increased to 57 percent of those killed. Law enforcement agencies will write citations day and night, with a zero-tolerance approach.

This year, NHTSA is aiming to increase campaign participation even more by coordinating a “Coast to Coast” seat belt education and enforcement effort with the California Highway Patrol. Additionally, law enforcement agencies statewide are joining the Click It or Ticket effort to emphasize the “Coast to Coast” seat belt safety awareness campaign in all 50 states.

“As law enforcement, we have a special role in helping protect the safety of our citizens, from the East to the West Coast,” said Deputy Manuel Cruz from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “Time after time, we see the deadly results that come from drivers and passengers refusing to wear a seat belt. Wearing a seat belt is one of the most important steps in increasing survivability in a crash. Our job is to stop those who are not buckled up, and to keep them from repeating this potentially deadly mistake.”