New Haven Police Launch “Click It or Ticket” to Help Save Lives

(12/8/2007) (NEW HAVEN)--More than 15,000 passenger vehicle occupants died in traffic crashes between the nighttime hours of 6:00 p.m. and 5:59 a.m. during 2005, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) – and 59 percent of those passenger vehicle occupants killed were NOT wearing their seat belts at the time of the fatal crash.

The proportion of unbuckled automobile deaths that occur at night is considerably higher than the number of passenger vehicle occupants who were not wearing their seats belts and were killed during daytime hours across the nation in 2005 (44 percent).

New Haven Police will be joining State and local law enforcement and highway safety officials in mid-November and throughout the Thanksgiving holiday weekend to launch an aggressive “Click It or Ticket” seat belt enforcement mobilization. This effort is meant to crack down on low seat belt use and to reduce highway fatalities – with a new emphasis this year on convincing more motorists to buckle up – day and night.

Regular seat belt use is the single most effective way to protect people and reduce fatalities in motor vehicle crashes. However, nearly one in five Americans (19 percent nationally) still fail to regularly wear their seat belts when driving or riding in a motor vehicle according to NHTSA’s observational seat belt studies.

Stepped-up law enforcement activities, including seat belt checkpoints, will be conducted during the “Click It or Ticket” enforcement mobilization, which runs from November 12th through November 25th. For details on New Haven’s efforts throughout this campaign, please contact Sergeant Joseph Witkowski at 203-946-6577.

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For more information, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/link/ciot.htm

Contact Name: Jessica Mayorga

Contact Email: jmayorga@newhavenct.net

Contact Phone: 2039467660