2016 Click It or Ticket
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 14, 2016
CONTACT: Av Harris 203-814-7992 av.harris@bridgeportct.gov
Click It or Ticket Campaign a “Major Success”
Bridgeport Police Wrote 380 Seat Belt Citations
Bridgeport – From May 23 to June 5, you may have noticed that the Bridgeport Police Department participated in a high-visibility seat belt enforcement campaign. The hallmarks of the national Click It or Ticket crackdown are ramped-up enforcement—meaning zero tolerance for unbuckled vehicle occupants—and effective communication to all road users about the importance of seat belts. During the enforcement period, Bridgeport Police issued 380 citations for seat belt violations, including four cases in which infant car seats were not properly secured.
“We believe we saved lives,” said Bridgeport Police Chief AJ Perez. “We know for a fact that seat belts save lives in motor vehicle crashes, and I think we got people’s attention by cracking down hard.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half of the 21,022 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2014 were unrestrained. During this year’s campaign, NHTSA urged law enforcement nationwide to issue seat belt citations to anyone caught in violation of the law—during the day, but especially at night, when 57% of those killed are unrestrained. By adding patrols at night, and training officers on specific techniques to catch nighttime violators, the campaign—and the nighttime focus—was a “major success,” according to Chief Perez.
The national seat belt use rate is currently at 87% according to NHTSA. The Click It or Ticket campaign is for the 27.5 million people who make up the remaining 13 percent. Thousands more lives could be saved each year if every person was properly restrained on the road.
For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.
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