Click it or ticket!
That’s message from police as they crack down on people driving without their seat belt on. Those who are caught could face a hefty fine.
Dale Geslien knows firsthand the importance of a seat belt.
“It saved my life recently. I had an accident on 84. Always wear my seat belt,” Geslien said. “It kept me in my place with the air bags so it all works together.”
Thankfully she’s okay, but many involved in crashes are sadly not as fortunate.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports of the 37,000 people who died in car crashes in 2017, nearly half were not wearing a seat belt.
Changing that grim statistic is the hope of a national, two-week campaign called “Click It or Ticket” which starts on Monday.
Local
East Hartford Police is among those conducting special enforcement and in a statement the chief wrote in part:
“Seat belts save lives, and everyone – front seat and back, child and adult – needs to remember to buckle up – every trip, every time.”
Those who don’t and are caught by officers could face a fine of $92.
“I don’t move until he’s bucked up,” Kiara Gill of Glastonbury, said.
Gill says she’s taught her son Cameron about the dangers of not wearing a seat belt.
“I let him know if I get into an accident he could possibly fall out of the car or fly out of the car so I want to make sure he’s buckled up and safe,” Gill said.
And it’s a lesson a 7-year-old understands well.
“If you don’t have your seat belts, that’s just messed up,” Cameron said.
The good news is federal traffic safety experts report about 90 percent of us wore our seat belts last year.
That’s up from about 20 years ago when it was around 70 percent.
