(La Porte County, IN) - Drivers need to buckle up now or run a greater risk of being ticketed or seriously hurt and killed. 

 

The La Porte County Sheriff’s Office is joining agencies from across the state during the annual nationwide “Click It or Ticket” high-visibility enforcement effort.

 

The seat belt campaign, which coincides with the Memorial Day holiday, runs from May 15th to June 4th.

 

Federal dollars are used to pay officers to work overtime for beefing up patrols to look for violators.

 

“Our goal is for seat belt use to be an automatic habit for drivers and passengers alike,” said La Porte County Police Capt. Derek J. Allen.

 

Statistics show unbuckled motorists make up almost 40% of all passenger vehicle deaths in the state. 

 

Since the “Click It or Ticket” initiative began more than 20 years ago, seat belt use has gone up by one-third in Indiana to 93 percent.  The national national average for seat belt use is 91.6 percent.

 

Despite progress and advances in vehicle safety, 236 unbuckled vehicle occupants lost their lives on Indiana roads last year, the third highest total in the past decade, according to police.

 

Young drivers, especially males, were most likely to speed and the least likely to be buckled during a crash.

 

“If our enforcement effort alerts people to the dangers of unrestrained driving, we’ll consider our mission to be a success,” Allen said.