“Click It or Ticket” campaign to start May 18

Law enforcement agencies across the state, including the Ponca City Police Department, will be taking part in the annual “Click It or Ticket” mobilization May 18-31, cracking down on drivers and passengers who are not buckled up according to state law.

“Those who choose not to wear a seat belt will feel the heat during this campaign,” said Police Patrol Division Captain Earl Watkins “Motorists should buckle up every time they go out, both day and night – no warnings and no excuses.”

According to the National Highway Transportation Administration, seat belts save about 13,000 lives each year.

Oklahoma law requires drivers and front seat passengers age 13 and over to have a safety belt properly fastened at all times the vehicle is being operated. Children age 12 and younger are required to be properly restrained in the appropriate car seat, booster seat or seat belt, according to the child’s age and weight.

“We can’t make the decision to buckle up for you, and we hope it won’t take getting a ticket to help you remember to fasten that seat belt or buckle your child correctly,” Watkins said. “Unless you want to risk a ticket – or, even worse, your life – you must buckle up.”

In 2013 in Oklahoma:

• 678 people died on Oklahoma roadways. Restraint use was known on 439 of these.

• Of those 439 deaths, 242 (55 percent) were not restrained.

• More than 41 percent of unrestrained fatalities were ejected from the vehicle.

For more information about Oklahoma’s occupant protection laws, visit www.ohso.ok.gov

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