The Minden Police Department is reminding drivers again that wearing a seatbelt is not only a safer way to drive, it can also help them avoid getting a ticket.
As part of the national Click It or Ticket campaign, law enforcement agencies around the country will be stepping up their efforts May 23 to June 5, just ahead of one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
“As law enforcement, we have a special role in helping protect the safety of our citizens, from the East to the West Coast,” Minden Police Chief Steve Cropper said. “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.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half of the more than 21,000 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2014 were unrestrained.
Research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that while 88.5 percent of passenger vehicle occupants buckled up in 2015, almost 50 percent of occupants in fatal crashes in the United States are not wearing restraints.
In some states, as many of 70 percent of occupants were unrestrained in fatal crashes.
Nearly half of the 21,022 people killed in passenger vehicle crashes in 2014 weren’t buckled up, the Traffic Safety Administration reports. And from 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., that number increased to 57 percent of those killed.
Law enforcement will write citations day and night with a zero-tolerance approach.
“Hundreds of thousands of citizens will be traveling this Memorial Day weekend, as well as throughout the summer vacation season. We want to make sure that people are buckling up to keep themselves and their families safe. It is the greatest defense in a vehicle crash,” Cropper said.