GCSD to show ‘zero tolerance’ during Click It or Ticket campaign

As summer kicks off and families hit the road for vacations, the Garland County Sheriff’s Department reminds motorists to Click It or Ticket.

Aimed at enforcing seat belt use to keep motorists and their families safe, the national campaign begins Monday and runs through June 4, concurrent with one of the busiest travel and holiday weekends of the year, a news release said.

“Our law enforcement personnel see firsthand the loss of life when people refuse to buckle up,” Garland County Sheriff Mike McCormick said in the release. “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, “We want to keep our community safe, and make sure people are doing the one thing that can save them in a crash: buckling up. If the enforcement crackdown helps people realize the dangers of unrestrained driving and gets them to buckle up, we’ll consider it a success,” McCormick said.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half the 22,441 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2015 were unrestrained. From 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., that number soared to 57 percent of those killed.

Those statistics are the reason the Click It or Ticket campaign focuses on nighttime enforcement. Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night.

“Please, 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, every trip, every time,” the release said.