Click It Or Ticket Campaign Begins November 16 With Border To Border Event In Gresham

Press release from the City of Gresham:

November 10, 2020

On Nov. 16, the Gresham Police Department will join law enforcement agencies nationwide for a Border to Border (B2B) law enforcement event to kick off the annual Click It or Ticket seat belt campaign, which runs through Nov. 29.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking all states to participate in B2B, a one-day national seat belt awareness event coordinated by participating state highway safety offices and their respective law enforcement liaisons.

The B2B initiative aims 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.

• In 2018, there were 9,778 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in the United States, according to NHTSA.
• That same year, 56 percent of passenger vehicle occupants killed at night (6:00 pm–5:59 am) were not wearing their seat belts. That’s why one focus of the Click It or Ticket campaign and the B2B kickoff event is nighttime enforcement.
• Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night.
• In Oregon, the maximum penalty for a seat belt violation is $120.

“The Click It or Ticket campaign is important because it helps raise awareness about seat belt safety and it reminds people that wearing seatbelts is required,” said Gresham Police Sgt. Jeff Cordes. “Thanksgiving is always one of the busiest holidays of the year for travel. Families will be traveling to spend time with their friends and loved ones, so it’s important that we remind people how crucial seat belts are to help keep them safe."

The goal of the enforcement campaign is to help people understand how dangerous it is to travel without a seat belt and how they can reduce fatalities and injuries in the event of a crash.

"If we can accomplish that, our mission will be a success,” said Sgt. Cordes. “If you, or someone you know, does not buckle up when traveling in a vehicle, please consider changing that habit. Ask your loved ones if they wear a seat belt and help us spread this lifesaving message before one more friend or family member is killed or seriously injured in a crash. Seat belts save lives, and everyone in a vehicle, of every age, needs to remember to buckle up on every trip, no matter how short it will be.”

Learn more about the Click It or Ticket campaign

This press release was produced by the City of Gresham . The views expressed here are the author’s own.