Click It or Ticket in Fishers This Month
TOWN MANAGER
Gary A. Huff
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2008
“Click It or Ticket” Returns and Aims to Buckle Down on Those Not Buckled Up With a focus on All Unbuckled Motorists — Day and Night
(Fishers, Indiana) – In an effort to save lives while increasing seat belt use across the state, the Fishers Police Department will join with more than 250 state and local law enforcement agencies to launch Indiana’s “Click It or Ticket” enforcement campaign.
The statewide “Click It or Ticket” seat belt mobilization will take place from May 16 – June 1, covering the highly traveled Memorial Day holiday. With an emphasis this year on convincing more motorists to buckle up day and night, law enforcement officers will be on the look out for unrestrained motorists around the clock.
Through high-visibility enforcement efforts, Fishers police officers will work overtime hours to ensure that all drivers and passengers in the Hoosier state buckle up every trip, every time or they will face a fine.
According to the 2007 Annual Observational Survey, Indiana’s overall observed seat belt
usage rate increased from 62.1 percent in 2000 to a record high of 88.4 percent in 2007. The survey also reported a 22 point increase of seat belt usage among pick up truck drivers – jumping from 49.5 percent in 2005 to 71.5 percent in 2007. “Although Indiana’s numbers are encouraging, these high-visibility enforcement efforts are still essential to increasing seat belt usage among those who are notorious for not buckling up. That is, male (pickup) truck drivers between the ages 18-34 who tend to live in rural areas of the state,” said Sergeant Steve Pickett. “We remain committed to building on the successes that we have gained and supporting enforcement efforts that work to save lives,” Sergeant Pickett added.
Further studies conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that in addition to nighttime motorists, men - particularly young men - and young people ages 16 to 24 are among those less likely to buckle up. In 2006, 73 percent of male passenger vehicle occupants between the ages of 18 and 34 who were killed in crashes were not wearing seat belts. Sixty four percent of teenage passenger vehicle occupants killed in fatal crashes in 2006 were not buckled up at the time of the crashes.
“Research shows us that there is a problem with drivers and passengers not buckling up at night which is when the risk of a fatal crash is greatest. Clearly much more must be done as it relates to enforcement, education and promoting overall behavioral change if we are going to continue to make progress,” said Sergeant Pickett.
Additional data, derived from the 2007 Indiana Occupant Protection Fact sheet, found on
http://www.in.gov/cji/2572.htm indicates that 54 percent of the individuals killed in car crashes in 2006 (where restraint usage was known) were unrestrained. While nearly 80 percent of individuals killed in pickup trucks, also in 2006 (where restraint usage was known) were unrestrained.
“Click It or Ticket” is a statewide enforcement effort that is supported by federal funding
allocated to the Fishers Police Department from the Traffic Safety division of the Indiana
Criminal Justice Institute (ICJI). Indiana’s enforcement mobilization is reinforced by a
statewide paid advertising buy and targeted public outreach efforts to comprehensively
promote the life-saving benefits of regular seat belt use to all motorists.
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