Click It Or Ticket: Deputies Begin Seat Belt Crackdown

March 20, 2012

Monday, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office began a two-week “Click It or Ticket” crackdown designed to increase seat belt use and decrease motor vehicle fatalities across the county. The campaign will run day and night.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2010 nationally, 61 percent of the 10,647 passenger vehicle occupants who were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes overnight (6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.) were not wearing their seat belts at the time of the fatal crash, compared to 42 percent during the daytime hours.

“That’s why Escambia County deputies are joining state and local law enforcement agencies and highway safety groups in supporting an aggressive national Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement campaign from May 18 through May 31″, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

Pictured above and below: Just two days after a seat belt usage crackdown began in Escambia County last year, this motorist was stopped on Highway 97 after an Escambia County deputy observed him not wearing a seat belt. In an ironic twist, the bumper sticker on the truck states “Buckle Up! Or Pay Up!”. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

11 Responses to “Click It Or Ticket: Deputies Begin Seat Belt Crackdown”

  1. Molino Mom on March 23rd, 2012 3:39 pm

    And to add to the below comments,
    Why do we allow passengers to ride in the bed of a truck? They aren’t getting tickets. Cops fly right on by them with not even a second glance.
    I am an avid seat belt wearer and expect the same of my children, but I don’t agree with FORCING someone to wear a seatbelt.
    So, if I accidentally pull out of the Tom Thumb after pumping gas and forget to put my seat belt on immediately, and a cop sees me-I could be paying a steep ticket?
    I disagree with this. If I want to take the chance of potentially killing myself in a car wreck, I should have that right! (again, I wear my seat belt always!)

  2. Albert on March 21st, 2012 7:09 pm

    I am all for seat belts but why are helments optional for motorcyclist….

  3. 429SCJ on March 21st, 2012 5:55 am

    I remember that night 35 years ago, when Mr Buck and his son Daniel pulled me out of that Mustang, what was left of it, gas everywhere. I know without seatbelts and the Lord’s hand, I would have been dead. Buckle up people. Thanks Daniel.

  4. Harley Rider on March 20th, 2012 5:31 pm

    ET, Motorcyclists have better lobbyists…. I buckle up and I wear a helmet, it’s my choice. I have responsibilities to my family, who will take care of the wife and kids while I’m splattered all over I-10 or Hwy. 29? or ejected out of my pick up somewhere. Same reason I don’t get hammered and drive.

  5. MR. G on March 20th, 2012 4:56 pm

    It should be your choice to wear your seat belt or not like the post said before mine this is supposed to be land of the free….but i guess not

  6. JM on March 20th, 2012 9:13 am

    If the sheriffs office really cares so much, how about ticking Bufords for not having a flag man when they tie up a hill top where there is double yellow lines in
    the middle of road. They had 2 trucks with no flagman on Jernigan and you could not tell what was over the hill. That’s why double yellows are there, you can’t see over the hill.

  7. shiloh on March 20th, 2012 9:07 am

    A deputy stopped me just out of Century. He said, why ain,t you using a seatbelt. I replied, I don,t won,t to. Then he said, here boy, take this book and write what I tell you too. Land of the free and unlearned. Rock on!!

  8. sam on March 20th, 2012 7:49 am

    sheriffs dept raising revenue. i buckle up; but it’s my choice NOT the governments. big brother always pushing.

  9. ET on March 20th, 2012 7:04 am

    This is a law that saves lives but why don’t don’t they do a study on motorcycles drivers that were killed wearing a helment and not wearing a helments. If our goverment is going to control one for safety why not control all for safety.

  10. Fairlane63 on March 20th, 2012 6:23 am

    Land of the free…

  11. 429SCJ on March 20th, 2012 5:34 am

    Seatbelts, inexpensive life insurance.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News