CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NEWS RELEASE 2800 BERLIN TURNPIKE P.O. BOX 317546 NEWINGTON CONNECTICUT 06131-7546
FOR RELEASE: Upon Receipt	FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS TELEPHONE: (860) 594-3062 Fax: (860) 594-3066 HOME-PAGE:www.ct.gov/dot

NEWINGTON, Connecticut – Officials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Connecticut Department of Public Safety, Connecticut Chief’s of Police Association, the Connecticut Departments of Motor Vehicles and Public Health, and the Connecticut Department of Transportation will join Lieutenant Governor Michael Fedele on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 10:30 AM at the Department of Transportation, 2800 Berlin Turnpike, Newington to kick off the 2007 “Click it or Ticket” Campaign.

The event will feature speakers as well as visual displays, demonstrations and the unveiling of the new campaign.  Motorcycle officers will lead a procession and child passenger safety technicians will be on hand to demonstrate how to properly install child safety seats. A Safety Belt simulator and the Rollover simulator will be on-hand to show the importance of buckling up.

Regular safety belt use is the single most effective way to protect people and reduce fatalities in motor vehicle crashes.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that adult lap and shoulder safety belts, when worn correctly, reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent – and by 60 percent in pickup trucks, SUVs and mini-vans.

Connecticut is consistent with the national average in that nearly one in five Americans (19 percent nationally) still fail to regularly wear their safety belts when driving or riding in a motor vehicle. 

Law enforcement officials will be addressing the motorists who still do not understand that Safety Belts Save Lives. Safety belt checkpoints and other stepped-up law enforcement activities will be conducted during the national “Click It or Ticket” enforcement mobilization, which runs May 14- June 3, 2007. 

Nationally in 2005, 77 percent of the passenger vehicle occupants who were in a fatal crash and who were buckled up survived the crash.  Everyone traveling in a motor vehicle should always wear their safety belt.  Children should always use a height and weight appropriate child safety seat and should ride in the back seat, as this seating position is the safest for them.

Unless you want to risk a ticket, or worse - your life, you need to always remember to “Click It or Ticket.”  For more information, please visit: www.nhtsa.gov/link/ciot.htm.