The Harford County Sheriff?s Office announced Wednesday it is joining with other state and local law enforcement agencies and highway safety officials to launch an aggressive national “Click It or Ticket” seat belt enforcement campaign from May 21 through June 3 to crack down on failure to use seat belts and to reduce highway fatalities.
Sgt. Joseph Vanseeters of the Harford Sheriff’s Office said in 2005, 77 percent of the victims in serious crashes who buckled up survived, and that when worn correctly, seat belts have proven to reduce fatal injuries to front-seat passengers in cars by 45 percent ? and by 60 percent in pickup trucks, sports utility vehicles and minivans.
Yet 19 percent of the U.S. population fails to routinely use seat belts, according to studies.
The Click It or Ticket campaign is especially emphasizing the importance of seat belt use at night.
More than 15,000 people died in traffic crashes between 6:00 p.m. and 5:59 a.m. during 2005, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ?- and 59 percent of them did not wear their seat belts at the time, according to a news release.
“The proportion of unbuckled deaths at night is considerably higher than the nearly as alarming 44 percent of passenger vehicle occupants who were not wearing their seats belts and were killed during daytime hours across the nation that same year,” the news release said.
