PORT JERVIS – Law enforcement agencies in the Tri-State area of Port Jervis and Pike County will join forces for this year’s national Click It or Ticket seat belt campaign as the Memorial Day weekend approaches.
The enhanced Border to Border police effort, to run from May 23 through June 5, will include law enforcement from the New York State Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Port Jervis City Police, Town of Deerpark Police, Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the Eastern Pike Regional Police.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking all states to participate in B2B, a one-day, four-hour national seat belt awareness event on May 23, which is coordinated by participating state highway safety offices and their respective law enforcement liaisons. The B2B initiative aims to increase law enforcement participation by coordinating highly visible seat belt enforcement for drivers at state border checkpoints.
According to federal authorities, in 2020, there were 10,893 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in the United States. In that same year, 58 percent of passenger vehicle occupants killed at night (6 p.m.–5:59 a.m.) were not wearing their seat belts. That’s why one focus of the Click It or Ticket campaign and the B2B kickoff event is nighttime enforcement. Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations both day and night.
New York State enacted the universal restraint law in 2020 requiring all occupants of a motor vehicle to be safely fastened by a seat belt or child safety seat.
According to national officials, of the 22,215 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2019, 47 percent were not wearing seat belts. Seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives and could have saved an additional 2,549 people if they had been wearing seat belts, in 2017 alone.
Almost twice as many male occupants were killed in crashes as compared to females, with lower belt use rates, too. Of the males riders killed in crashes in 2020, more than half (55 percent) were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 43 percent were not buckled up. The consequences of not wearing, or improperly wearing, a seat belt are clear, they said.
`For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, visit NHTSA.gov/ciot.
