“Click It or Ticket” campaign kicks off in Maryland
Click It, or Ticket. It’s a law enforcement campaign that has been around for decades. However, it appears some people are still not wearing their seat belts.
Corporal David Trevino says, “Click it, avoid the ticket, and everyone will be safer.”
Starting May 11th, police officers in the state of Maryland will be on high alert. They will be out looking for drivers not wearing their seat belts. It’s a part of the Click It or Ticket campaign.
Authorities tell us there is nothing new about this campaign, but they continue to do it because some people refuse to buckle up. Seat belt use nationwide was recorded at roughly seventy-six percent in 2003. However, it has improved.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in 10 years, there have been 11 percent more people strapped in. That has brought the average to eighty- seven percent, but people are still dying.
The 2013 numbers show nearly half of the more than twenty-one thousand people killed while riding in a vehicle in America were not wearing a seat belt.
Corporal Trevino says, “A lot of people just grew up without having the law in place when they were driving. A lot of people think it’s uncomfortable. A lot of people think it’s a choice, in that if they don’t buckle up it only affects them.”
Even though it is the middle- aged Americans who might remember the days before seat belt laws, it appears a number of teens and young adults who grew up with “Click It or Ticket” are not buckling up.
The numbers show sixty-one percent of young people killed in crashes aren’t properly restrained. Night time is another issue. More unbelted drivers are killed between the hours of about 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Corporal Trevino goes on, “We’ll sometimes position ourselves under street lights or something like. It actually illuminates vehicles as they pass. We have different ways to try and catch them.”
When they catch you, you’ll be paying an $83 ticket. To avoid paying the ticket, just click it.
The Click It or Ticket campaign is a part of the state of Maryland’s goal for zero deaths on our roadways.
