Police to watch out for seat belt violators over Thanksgiving

The Texarkana, Ark., Police Department will team up with other state and local law enforcement agencies to crack down on seat belt violations over the Thanksgiving holidays.

Starting Monday through Nov. 26, TAPD officers will be out and about looking for occupant restraint violations. Arkansas state law requires that all front seat passengers and any passenger under 15 years of age be buckled up. Children who are less than 6 years of age and weighing less than 60 pounds shall be restrained in a child safety seat.

Thanksgiving is one of the busiest times of the year, and statistics show that the holidays can turn deadly for motor vehicle occupants, something that is made more dangerous when they fail to wear their safety belts.

For more information about traveling safely during Thanksgiving, visit www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov

Arkansas State Police will also participate in a holiday Click It or Ticket campaign. The stepped-up enforcement covers a seven-day period beginning Monday.

Click It or Ticket is designed to save lives by combining powerful messages about seat belt safety with increased law enforcement patrols aimed at unbuckled motorists.

“More than half of the people who died in fatal traffic crashes during the Thanksgiving holiday period of 2015 were not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash,” said Col. Bill Bryant, Governor’s Highway Safety Representative and director of the Arkansas State Police. “This year we’ll be out in full force looking for drivers and passengers who are not buckled up. Violators will be pulled over and ticketed.”

For more information, visit trafficsafetymarketing.gov or call the Arkansas Highway Safety Office at 501-618-8136. For more on Arkansas’ ongoing Toward Zero Deaths campaign to eliminate preventable traffic fatalities, visit TZDArkansas.org.