To help keep drivers and passengers safe this Memorial Day, the Texarkana, Ark., Police Department is reminding motorists to "Click It or Ticket."
The national campaign starts May 21 and is aimed at enforcing seat belt laws. The TAPD will patrol throughout the city looking for drivers violating the state's seat belt laws, said Officer Kristi Bennett, spokeswoman for TAPD.
"As the Memorial Day weekend approaches and the summer vacation season ramps up, we want to keep our community members safe and make sure people are doing the one thing that can save them in a crash: buckling up. Buckling up is such a simple task that can keep you and your family safe in the car. But it's more than that, buckling up is the law. Our law enforcement personnel see the consequences of not buckling up. We see the loss of life and often, it could have been prevented with the simple click of a seat belt. This simple task should be automatic for all drivers and passengers," Bennett said.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half of the passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2016 were unrestrained. From 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., that number soared to 56 percent of those killed. In 2016, almost twice as many men were killed in crashes as compared with women, with lower belt use rates, too. Of the men killed in crashes in 2016, more than half were unrestrained. For women killed in crashes, 40 percent were not buckled up.
For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.