North Carolina Launches 'Click It Or Ticket' Campaign
24 August 1998
North Carolina Launches End-Of-Summer 'Click It Or Ticket' Campaign Trauma Centers Join State Effort To Boost Seat Belt, Child Safety Seat Use
RALEIGH, N.C., Aug. 24 -- It's "Click It or Ticket" across
North Carolina. Local law enforcement officers across the state are stepping
up enforcement of seat belt, child passenger safety and other highway safety
laws before, during, and after the busy Labor Day travel weekend. Last year,
12 people were killed and 1,194 were injured in North Carolina Labor Day
weekend traffic crashes.
"I congratulate the people of North Carolina who continue to show the rest
of the country how to save lives and prevent injuries by buckling up," said
Gov. Jim Hunt, who was saved by his seat belt as a young man. "Unfortunately,
some of our people aren't getting the message, and they're not wearing a seat
belt or buckling up their children. I urge everyone to wear seat belts so we
can have a safe holiday on our highways."
State and local health officials and highway safety advocates joined North
Carolina law enforcement officers at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill today to
kick off the 1998 end-of-summer "Click It or Ticket" campaign that will run
through Sept. 13. The event was held on the trauma center's helicopter pad to
reinforce the on-going urgency of stopping deaths and preventing injuries on
the roads.
The event marked the first of numerous highway safety activities that are
being held during the second enforcement wave of this year's "Click It or
Ticket." Six other trauma centers -- in Charlotte, Asheville, Greenville,
Winston-Salem, Wilmington, and Fayetteville -- are holding events on their
emergency helicopter landing pads to discuss how most motor vehicle fatalities
could be prevented, and serious injuries greatly reduced, if drivers and
passengers took the time to buckle up. In addition, North Carolina law
enforcement officers are holding special "Click It or Ticket" checkpoints
Sept. 1-3 in partnership with Virginia police agencies on five highways that
cross the North Carolina-Virginia border.
"Click It or Ticket" has been called a model for the national "Buckle Up
America!" seat belt initiative, according to the U.S. Secretary of
Transportation. The program is listed as a "best practice" by the
Presidential Initiative for Increasing Seat Belt Use Nationwide.
"North Carolinians should be proud of the 'Click It or Ticket' program,"
U.S. Representative David Price said. "It's making a tremendous difference by
saving lives and preventing injuries, and it's setting the standard for
highway safety programs across the nation. I applaud our citizens, law
enforcement officers, and health-care providers for making North Carolina a
leader in highway safety."
Programs such as "Click It or Ticket" are needed to stop the epidemic of
deaths and injuries from traffic crashes in our state and across the nation,
State Health Director Dr. Dennis McBride said.
"Traffic crashes aren't 'accidents'; they are predictable and
preventable," McBride said. "The number of traffic-related deaths in our
nation each year is equivalent to a daily 737 jet crash. The American public
would not tolerate a jet crashing daily, yet somehow traffic crashes and their
costs have come to be viewed as an expected and uncontrollable consequence of
everyday life. Traffic crashes are a health crisis in our country and in
North Carolina."
McBride reminded motorists that the quickest, easiest, and most effective
way to prevent traffic injuries and deaths is to make sure that everyone is
buckled up on every trip.
Many of the law enforcement officers attending the "Click It or Ticket"
event in Chapel Hill recently assisted the Governor's Highway Safety Program
(GHSP) in its effort to produce a series of highway safety public service
announcements (PSAs) for television and radio and get the buckle-up message
out to the public.
"The 'Click It or Ticket' PSA focuses on seat belts and child passenger
safety and features motorists giving law enforcement officers a variety of
excuses for not buckling up," GHSP Director Joe Parker said. "The police
officers remind them that there are 'no excuses' when it comes to not obeying
the state's occupant protection laws." Parker added that a Spanish-language
version of the PSA, featuring Spanish-speaking law enforcement officers, has
also been produced. "Booze It & Lose It" PSAs have also been created for the
November anti-drunk driving campaign.
Before "Click It or Ticket" began, 65 percent of North Carolinians buckled
up. Last year, seat belt use in the state increased to 84 percent, one of the
highest rates in the nation. Since the program began, "Click It or Ticket"
cut fatal and serious injuries by 14 percent and saved North Carolinians more
than $118 million in health-care related costs, according to Parker.
During the Governor's Highway Safety Initiative from 1993 to July 1998,
more than 24,000 checkpoints have been held across the state. As a result,
officers have issued more than 181,000 seat belt citations, 16,000 child
safety seat violations and 39,000 charges for driving while impaired.
"During the three-week 'Click It or Ticket' emphasis, law enforcement
officers will be stepping up enforcement of all the rules of the road in
addition to seat belt and child passenger safety laws," Parker said. "They'll
be looking for speeders, drunk drivers and reckless drivers. We want all
motorists to get to where they're going safely."
In addition to seat belt violations, law enforcement officers have
discovered 46,000 criminal violations at seat belt and sobriety checkpoints
including fugitives from justice, firearms violations, felony drug violations
and stolen vehicles.
According to North Carolina law, all drivers and front seat passengers
must be buckled in either a seat belt or child safety seat. Children less
than age 12 must be buckled up in motor vehicles regardless of seating
position, and children less than age 4 must be properly secured in a correctly
installed safety seat. The fine for a child seat violation is $25 plus court
costs. The fine for seat belt citation is $25. Violators can be stopped by
law enforcement if not buckled up.
North Carolinians who have questions about seat belts and child safety
seats can call the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center
toll free at 1-800-672-4527 during regular business hours.
For more information about upcoming "Click It or Ticket" events
in Charlotte, Asheville, Greenville, Winston-Salem, Wilmington, and
Fayetteville, for a list of law enforcement officers who participated in the
"Click It or Ticket" PSAs, or for more information on the Sept. 1-3 "Click It
or Ticket" North Carolina-Virginia border checkpoints, contact Jill Warren
Lucas or Frank Smith at 919-733-3083.