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UW- Eau Claire Police to mobilize for Click It or Ticket safety belt enforcement from May 21 to June 3, 2007

To save lives and prevent serious injuries in traffic crashes, the UW-Eau Claire Police Department will mobilize for the national Click It or Ticket safety belt enforcement campaign from May 21 through June 3.

With hundreds of agencies participating, Click It or Ticket will be one of the largest coordinated law enforcement mobilizations ever in Wisconsin.

During Click It or Ticket, UW-Eau Claire police officers will devote more patrol time towards passenger safety. Our goal during the mobilization is not to write more tickets but to save lives through the voluntary compliance with Wisconsin’s mandatory safety belt law.

However, if you are stopped by an officer and are not buckled up, you may get a ticket whether you are driving or just a passenger.

Click It or Ticket combines highly visible and intensified law enforcement with an effective public awareness campaign, funded by the federal government.

Previous Click It or Ticket mobilizations have helped increase the safety belt use rate in Wisconsin to an all-time high of 75 percent in 2006. But Wisconsin still has a long way to go to achieve the 81 percent national average for safety belt use and to match neighboring states, such as Michigan with 93 percent, Illinois with 86 percent Iowa with 86 percent and Minnesota with 84 percent.

Every 1 percent increase in safety belt use in Wisconsin saves six lives per year, according to Wisconsin State Patrol Bureau of Transportation Safety estimates.

Click It or Ticket fits well with the University Police Department’s long-term efforts to educate the public on the proper installation of child safety seats.

Consistent safety belt use is the single-most effective protection against being ejected from a vehicle or thrown about violently inside during a crash. That’s why we’re serious about safety belt enforcement and child safety seat education. No matter what you drive or where you’re going, you are required to buckle up every time you get behind the wheel or ride in a vehicle. This is especially important for children in a vehicle.

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