Buckle up
UD Police to participate in seatbelt awareness campaign
3:49 p.m., May 16, 2011--UD Police will be joining police agencies throughout the state for the Delaware Office of Highway Safety (DOHS) Click It or Ticket campaign, a high visibility enforcement and public awareness campaign aimed at saving lives by increasing the number of Delawareans who regularly buckle up.
From May 22 through June 4, police throughout the state will be looking for violations of the state's seatbelt laws and will be issuing tickets at traffic safety checkpoints and through saturation patrols.
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This month marks the 10th anniversary of Click It or Ticket. According to DOHS, seatbelt use is an at all time high of 91 percent, but too many people continue to die as a result of being unrestrained when they're in a motor vehicle accident.
State law
According to Delaware state law:
• Everyone in the vehicle, including passengers and children, must wear seatbelts properly.
• Lap and shoulder belts must be worn, and shoulder belts must not be placed behind the back or under the arm.
• The driver will receive a ticket for the failure of anyone in the vehicle to buckle up. Fines are $25 plus court fees, which can total more than $70.
Seatbelt facts
According to information provided by DOHS:
• In Delaware, 71 percent of unrestrained fatalities occur between 6 pm. and 6 a.m., compared to 58 percent for the rest of the nation.
• Last year, 65 percent of unrestrained fatal victims were drivers and 28 percent involved alcohol and/or drugs.
• Wearing a seatbelt increases your changes of surviving a crash by almost 50 percent, while reducing the severity of injury.
• You are four times more likely to be killed in a crash if you are ejected from a vehicle because you are not buckled up.