Thanksgiving Seat Belt Campaign Under Way In Southington

SOUTHINGTON, CT — An intensive Thanksgiving holiday seat belt enforcement campaign has begun in Southington.

It's part of the federal Click-It-Or Ticket program and will be running through Dec 2, police said. Law enforcement agencies throughout the area are teaming up to enforce "unbelted operators and passengers."

The goal to "increase law enforcement participation by coordinating highly visible seat belt enforcement and providing seat belt fact sheets for drivers at heavily traveled, highly visible state border checkpoints," police said.

According to the NHTSA, in 2017, there were 10,076 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in the United States. In that same year, 55 percent of passenger vehicle occupants killed at night (6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.) were not wearing their seat belts. Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night.

Connecticut law requires all drivers and passengers in the front seat, regardless of the
occupant's age, as well as all children under 16 in all positions to wear seatbelts. Fines start at a
minimum of $92 for first offense.

For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.