Farmington, NM – Once again, the Farmington Police Department is reminding motorists to Click It or Ticket. As part of the national seat belt enforcement campaign, law enforcement agencies around the country will be stepping up enforcement May 18 – 31, just ahead of one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
“As we approach Memorial Day weekend and the summer vacation season, we want to make sure people are using their seatbelts. This is the one thing that can save them in a crash,” said FPD’s Traffic Sergeant David Karst.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half of the 21,132 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2013 were unrestrained. At night from 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., that number soared to 59 percent of those killed. That’s why one focus of the Click It or Ticket campaign is nighttime enforcement. Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night.
In New Mexico, 152 unbelted vehicle occupants died in 2014 based on preliminary data. Nationally, almost twice as many males were killed in crashes as compared to females, with lower belt use rates, too. Of the males killed in crashes in 2013, more than half (54%) were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 41 percent were not buckled up.
For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.