'Click It or Ticket' Nets 5,830 Protection Charges in Second
Week
RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 12 Law enforcement officers across
the state ticketed 5,830 drivers and passengers for failure to use seat belts
and/or child safety seats during the second week of the fall "Click It or
Ticket" campaign.
From Sept. 3-9, officers conducted 1,264 law enforcement activities in
support of "Click It or Ticket," which was launched with a statewide kickoff
event Aug. 27 in Durham.
Current citation data was reported by law enforcement agencies in each
county and compiled by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. During the
second week of the campaign, officers wrote 5,393 seat belt tickets and
437 child passenger safety violations. Counties with the highest number of
seat belt citations include Wake with 696, Surry with 334, and Mecklenburg and
Wayne counties with 193 each.
Besides cracking down on seat belt and child passenger safety violators,
officers across the state last week charged 896 motorists with driving while
impaired (DWI). They discovered a total of 27,146 violations, including
239 drug charges, 21 stolen vehicles, and three fugitives from justice. The
campaign continues through Sunday, Sept. 16.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently credited
"Click It or Ticket" with helping to increase the national seat belt use rate
from 71 percent to 73 percent. Gains were particularly notable in the South,
where the rate increased from 69 percent to 76 percent following last spring's
regional "Click It or Ticket" campaign. Eight southeastern states followed
the North Carolina enforcement model, and all increased their belt use.
Statewide Totals
DWI Occupant Restraint Traffic Violations
Driving Child
Total While Seat Passenger Total
Checkpoints Impaired Belt Safety Traffic
and Patrols Violations Violations Violations Speeding Violations
1,313 941 5,394 457 8,334 24,644
(Aug. 27-Sept. 2)
1,264 896 5,393 437 8,300 25,959
(Sept. 3-9)
Criminal Violations
Other
Stolen Criminal
Drug Firearm Vehicles Fugitives Violations
Violations Violations Recovered * Arrested * Not Listed
237 12 9 5 409
239 23 21 3 925
Criminal Violations
Total
Total Traffic &
Criminal Criminal
Violations Violations
658 25,302
1,187 27,146
*These columns are not counted into overall total of violations