2022 Click It or Ticket Campaign: Border to Border- NY-PA

2022 Click It or Ticket Campaign:  Border to Border- NY-PA

MULTI-STATE CLICK IT OR TICKET CAMPAIGN STARTS MAY 23
WITH BORDER TO BORDER KICKOFF EVENT

Tri-State Area State & Local Law Enforcement partner for Border-to-Border Campaign to promote increased seat belt usage.

During this year’s national Click It or Ticket seat belt campaign, which will take place May 23 through June 5, 2022, Tri-State area state and local law enforcement officers from the New York State Police, Port Jervis City Police, Town of Deerpark Police, Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Eastern Pike Regional Police and Pennsylvania State Police will be teaming up with law enforcement nationwide for a Border to Border (B2B) kickoff event.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is asking all states to participate in B2B, a one-day, 4-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 NHTSA, in 2020, there were 10,893 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in the United States. In that same year, 58% 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. 

The Border-to-Border component of the Click It or Ticket campaign is important because it raises awareness about seat belt safety during a time when seat belt use is decreased.  With an increased number of cars flooding the roads due to the upcoming Memorial Day holiday, it’s imperative we get the word out about the importance of seat belt safety.

According to NHTSA, of the 22,215 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2019, 47% 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.  Further, almost twice as many males were killed in crashes as compared to females, with lower belt use rates, too. Of the males killed in crashes in 2020, more than half (55%) were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 43% were not buckled up. The consequences of not wearing, or improperly wearing, a seat belt are clear

The goal of this high visibility law enforcement campaign is to increase awareness for drivers and occupants of motor vehicles people up to the dangers of unrestrained driving. If you know a friend or a family member who does not buckle up when they drive, please ask them to consider changing their habits. Help us spread this lifesaving message before one more friend or family member is killed as a result of this senseless inaction. Seat belts save lives, and everyone — front seat and back, child and adult — needs to remember to buckle up

Dedicated grant funding for seat belt enforcement patrols is provided by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee’s Buckle Up New York Campaign financed through the Police Traffic Services/BUNY Grant. For further information on GTSC, please visit https://trafficsafety.ny.gov/

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