The police are pushing to raise awareness about seat belt laws, and they’ll be extra vigilant over the next few weeks to better enforce the laws.
The James City County Police Department is taking part in the 2013 National Click It or Ticket seat belt campaign that starts Monday. The Click It or Ticket initiative involves police officers cracking down on violations of traffic laws with a special focus on seat belt violations, according to a news release from James City County. The campaign will run through June 2.
An adult found to not be wearing a seatbelt is on the hook for a $25 fine. Children in the vehicle who aren’t wearing their seatbelts, it’s $50 for the first offense and $100 for the second, said James City County Master Police Officer Leslie Sten.
Traffic crashes claimed 774 lives in Virginia in 2012, according to Preliminary Department of Motor Vehicles Highway Safety statistics. Of those deaths, 305 were not wearing seat belts, and more than 25 percent of the deaths occurred between midnight and 6 a.m. Another 84 people not wearing seat belts were killed between 6 p.m. and midnight.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said seat belts saved an estimated 272 lives in Virginia in 2011.
“Seat belt use is just too important to ignore”, said Master Police Officer Leslie Sten in the release. “We want to stress that regularly buckling up works, and we know of too many cases, largely at night, that all too often ends in tragedy. Our goal is to save more lives, so James City County will be out enforcing ALL traffic laws including seat belt use.”
