Seat Belt Enforcement Patrols

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Seat Belt Enforcement Patrols

Throughout the month of February, the Evansville Police Department will join law enforcement agencies across Indiana and the nation to increase enforcement of seat-belt laws for Click It or Ticket. Multiple weeks of high-visibility patrols will be watching for unrestrained passengers in cars and trucks, both children and adults, the front seat and back, both day and night.

Click It or Ticket continues through the start of the summer travel season, including the Memorial Day holiday. Overtime police patrols are paid with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration funds administered by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute (ICJI).

2018 marks 30 years since Indiana’s seat-belt law began. Since that time, Indiana – along with 34 other states – has enacted a primary seat-belt law, meaning that police can pull you over for being unbuckled.

Indiana has participated in Click It or Ticket for more than 20 years. Last year, more than 240 law-enforcement agencies performed 8,728 hours of traffic patrols and issued more than 30,000 citations or warnings, of which about 13,700 were seat-belt and child-restraint citations.

“Click It or Ticket means zero-tolerance for unrestrained drivers and passengers,” said local law-enforcement leaders. “So why are we warning everyone in advance? Because the bottom line is not issuing seat-belt citations, but saving lives. Anyone who responds to a serious crash just wants motorists to buckle up in the first place.”