'Click It or Ticket' Nets 8,040 Occupant Protection Charges
in First Week
Officers Statewide Conduct Nearly 1,500 Activities and Arrest
911 Drunk Drivers
RALEIGH, N.C., May 23 Law enforcement officers ticketed
more than 8,000 drivers and passengers for failure to use seat belts and/or
child safety seats during the first week of the spring "Click It or Ticket"
campaign.
From May 14-20, officers statewide conducted 1,449 law enforcement
activities in support of North Carolina's seat belt and child passenger safety
campaign, which was launched with a statewide kickoff event on May 14 in
Raleigh. A second major event was held Tuesday in Charlotte.
"We would prefer that fewer tickets were written and that more motorists
complied with occupant protection laws," said Don Nail, acting director of the
Governor's Highway Safety Program. "No one should be surprised that North
Carolina officers are out conducting checkpoints and stepping up patrols. And
they ought to take note that, for the first time, 'Click It or Ticket' extends
from our northernmost border to the most southern point of Florida -- and just
about everywhere in between."
This week, seven additional southeastern states joined the mission to get
more motorists buckled up by adopting North Carolina's high visibility
enforcement and public education model. Participating states include Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The North Carolina numbers were reported by law enforcement agencies in
each county and compiled by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. During
the first week of the current campaign, officers wrote 7,454 seat belt tickets
and 586 child passenger safety violations. Wake County was responsible for
about one-seventh of all seat belt citations with 1,165 violations. Other
counties with especially high seat belt citation numbers include Catawba
(387), Mecklenburg (386), and Union (429).
Besides cracking down on seat belt and child passenger safety violators,
officers across the state last week charged 911 motorists with driving while
impaired (DWI). They discovered a total of 28,149 violations, including 293
drug charges, 26 stolen vehicles, and eight fugitive from justice. The
campaign continues through June 3.
The goal of "Click It or Ticket" is to boost seat belt use in North
Carolina, saving lives, preventing injuries, and reducing the massive health-
care costs associated with traffic crashes. In addition to ticketing
unbuckled drivers, officers are paying particular attention to unrestrained
children. All children up to age 16 must be buckled up no matter where they
ride in the vehicle. Children under age 5 and weighing less than 40 pounds
must ride in a child passenger safety seat -- in the back seat, if the vehicle
has an active passenger-side airbag. Drivers who fail to adhere to this law
will face two points on his or her driver's license.
Statewide Totals
DWI Occupant Restraint Traffic Violations
Driving Child
While Passenger Total
Total Impaired Seat Belt Safety Traffic
Checkpoints Violations Violations Violations Speeding Violations
and Patrols
1,449 911 7,454 586 7,655 27,281
(May 14-20)
Criminal Violations
Other
Misdemeanor Felony Stolen Criminal
Drug Drug Firearm Vehicles Fugitives Violations
Violations Violations Violations Recovered Arrested Not Listed
237 56 22 26 8 519
Total
Total Traffic &
Criminal Criminal
Violations Violations
868 28,149
