CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NEWS RELEASE 2800 BERLIN TURNPIKE P.O. BOX 317546 NEWINGTON CONNECTICUT, 06131-7546

FOR RELEASE: May 18, 2017

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS TELEPHONE: (860) 594-3062 FAX: (860) 594-3065 WEB SITE: www.ct.gov/dot

Click It or Ticket Campaign Starts May 22

As summer kicks off and families hit the road for vacations, State and Local law enforcement are reminding motorists to Buckle Up. Aimed at enforcing seat belt use to help keep families safe, the national seat belt campaign will take place May 22 through June 4, concurrent with one of the busiest travel and holiday weekends of the year.

“Our law enforcement personnel see firsthand the loss of life when people refuse to buckle up,” said Trooper First Class Kelly Grant, Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. “It’s such a simple thing, and it should be an automatic next step after sitting down in a vehicle.” As the Memorial Day Weekend approaches and the summer vacation season ramps up, “We want to keep our community members safe, and make sure people are doing the one thing that can save them in a crash: buckling up. If the enforcement crackdown wakes people up to the dangers of unrestrained driving and gets them to buckle up, we’ll consider it a success.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half of the 22,441 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2015 were unrestrained. Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night. The minimum penalty for a seat belt violation is $92.00.

“In 2015, we lost 67 community members because they did not buckle their seat belts,” said Chief John Gavallas, Chairman of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association Traffic Safety Committee. Almost twice as many males were killed in crashes as compared to females.  52 percent of the males killed in crashes in 2015 were unrestrained. 42 percent of the females killed in crashes were not buckled up.

“Did you know someone who was killed in a crash because they did not buckle up?” asked Officer Michael Diana, Hartford Police Department. “Please, help us spread this life-saving message before one more friend or family member is killed as a result of this senseless inaction. Seat belts save lives, and everyone needs to remember to buckle up, every trip, every time.”

For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.