Editor’s note: Above video features 2017 report on seatbelt safety from Minnesota sisters
SPOKANE, Wash. – Buckle up or face a $136 fine. Traffic safety officials launched the annual Click It or Ticket campaign in Washington this week.
More than 145 law enforcement agencies across the state are searching for motorists not wearing their seatbelts until June 2.
Locally, the Eastern Washington University Police Department; Colfax Police Department; Pullman Police Department; Spokane County Sheriff’s Office; Spokane Police Department; Washington State Patrol; and Whitman County Sheriff’s Office are participating in the emphasis patrols.
According to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, more than 100 people who are unbuckled die in crashes each year. Most of these deaths were young men between the ages of 21 to 25.
“In Washington, 93 percent ‘click it’ when they’re on the road, because they know that wearing a seat belt greatly reduces the chances of dying or being seriously injured in a crash,” Washington Traffic Safety Commission spokesperson Scott Walker said. “Unfortunately, some of our young adult drivers – those most likely to be in a crash – are the least likely to be wearing a seat belt. And that’s scary.”
The WTSC offered several tips for ensuring that teen drivers start a lifelong habit of buckling up:
- Always model safe behavior
- Persistently stress why seat belt use is important to their personal safety
- Be armed with the facts to debunk myths – riding in a big vehicle, traveling on country roads or sitting in the back seat do not make you safer or alleviate the need for a seat belt