Provided by Traffic/Training Sergeant Joseph Pappalardo
FULTON, NY – The City of Fulton Police Department will be joining with more than 12,000 other State and local law enforcement and highway safety officials during the month of November for an aggressive national “Click It or Ticket” mobilization to crack down on safety belt law violators throughout New York State.
The “Click It or Ticket” mobilization runs from November 13 through November 26, 2006.
Chances are someone you know will be involved in a vehicle crash this year. And if they are unbuckled, it is twice as likely they will be severely injured or killed. Everyone knows that seat belts save lives, but far too many of us just don’t buckle up.
The cost of unbuckled drivers and passengers goes far beyond those killed and the loss to their families. We all pay – in higher taxes, higher health care and higher insurance costs. On average, inpatient hospital care costs for unbuckled crash victims are 50 percent higher than for those who are belted and society bears 85 percent of those costs, not the individuals involved.
Some will argue that it is a matter of “personal freedom” to drive unbuckled. But the fact is, that in our society, personal freedoms stop where other people are injured or killed. This is especially true when it comes to children’s safety. Crashes are devastating to unbuckled children. A child unrestrained in a 30 mile-per-hour crash is like a child dropped from a third story window. Yet adults who do not buckle up are sending children a deadly message that it is all right not to use seat belts. Research shows that when a driver is unbuckled, 70 percent of the time children in that vehicle will not be buckled either.
Buckling up is still the most effective and immediate way to save lives and reduce injuries from crashes on America’s roadways. Unlike so many of the complex problems facing America today, we have the solution. It is so simple – just buckle up. And because we are all personally affected when even one person does not buckle up, we all must be a part of the solution.
Experience shows that, by itself, public education can’t do enough to produce significant increases in belt use, especially at this point in history when seat belt use is stuck below 70 percent. In fact, major increases in Americans’ seat belt use have occurred only when new and stronger laws have been enacted or when laws have been enforced more visibly and effectively.
Everyone can agree that safety belts save lives. Too many people still take the attitude that it will never happen to them. But fatal crashes can and do happen every day. So we will be out in force showing zero tolerance for everyone not buckled up. So unless you want to risk a ticket, or worse – your life, you need to remember to “Click It or Ticket” day and night.
missing or outdated ad config