The Buckle Up Pennsylvania Thanksgiving Click It or Ticket Seat Belt Enforcement Mobilization is now underway through the Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend and is scheduled to run through December 2, 2018.

Among the local police departments participating in these enforcement efforts are the Abington Township Police Department, the Cheltenham Township Police Department, and the Upper Dublin Township Police Department, according to Mr. Ed Boothman, Law Enforcement Liaison at the Highway Safety Network.

Mr. Boothman indicated that 23 municipalities throughout Montgomery County are participating in this Click It or Ticket campaign.

“The goal of the Thanksgiving Seat Belt Mobilization is to maximize both day and nighttime seat belt use by targeting roadways with high unbelted crashes, injuries and deaths, and initiating a combination of enforcement and public awareness activities,” according to a statement issued by Highway Safety Network, a non-profit organization that works with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).

“Buckle Up Pennsylvania is a project funded through PennDOT dedicated to raising the seat belt usage level in Pennsylvania through increased enforcement, public awareness and education,” according to the statement from the Highway Safety Network.  “The partnership is comprised of municipal police departments, the Pennsylvania State Police, PennDOT, the United States Department of Transportation, and community groups and organizations.”

“The law enforcement agencies invited to participate in this mobilization were selected based on a Crash Data Selection process,” the statement from the Highway Safety Network continued.   “The participating 250 [law enforcement] agencies represent the jurisdictions with the greatest number of unbelted crashes and fatalities in the state.  Participating law enforcement agencies will be required to schedule 50% of their enforcement details at night from [9:00 PM to 4:00 AM]…for this 14-day mobilization.”

According to the Highway Safety Network, “Seat belt enforcement and community awareness aids in increasing seat belt use for that segment of the driving population that does not buckle up.  Even though Pennsylvania has seen a reduction in unbelted fatalities, an inordinate amount of unbuckled crashes and fatalities occur during nighttime hours.  Police will schedule Enforcement Patrols and Traffic Enforcement Zones to help address this ongoing problem.”

“Buckle Up Pennsylvania believes the only way to convince the remaining 12% of non-seat belt users to buckle up is to write the primary citation for those under the age of 18 and the second seat belt citation for those over the age of 18,” the statement from the Highway Safety Network concluded.

The top photograph is courtesy of the Highway Safety Network, 2018.

The poster of the Click It Or Ticket Campaign is courtesy of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.