Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Tuesday, June 2, 2015
(UNDATED) - Indiana State Police announced there were 2,973 tickets issued for seat belt law violations over the course of the seat belt enforcement program that ran from May 15th through May 31st.
Please note this number only reflects citations issued by Indiana State Police personnel. This is a preliminary number based on electronic ticket information. This preliminary number may increase with the reporting of hand written tickets.
Troopers joined more than 250 state and local law enforcement agencies, and thousands more across the country, to conduct high-visibility patrols encouraging drivers and passengers to buckle up.
"It's a documented fact that wearing your seat belt increases your chance of surviving a crash by more than 50 percent," said Captain David Bursten, Chief PIO for the state police. "While we prefer voluntary compliance, we want to remind drivers and their occupants, if we see you unbelted, expect to be stopped and just as the slogan says, click it or ticket."
Click It or Ticket is an annual enforcement effort supported by federal funding allocated to the Indiana State Police from the Traffic Safety division of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute (ICJI). More than 200 troopers worked overtime to conduct seat belt patrols on Indiana's state roads and interstates. According to ICJI, in 2014, there were 748 fatalities on Indiana roadways. Of those fatalities, nearly one-third (29 percent) were unrestrained.
"While seat belt usage in Indiana passenger vehicles is over 91 percent, there's still room for improvement," said ICJI Director Mary Allen. "We know seat belt usage saves lives, and we are grateful for the participating agencies who are focusing efforts on increased education and enforcement to drive home this message."
Indiana law enforcement agencies have been actively involved in the Click It or Ticket campaign for over 20 years.
For more information regarding the Click It or Ticket enforcement mobilization campaign, please visit: http://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/ciot/index.html.
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