Lower Merion Police To Enforce Seatbelt Use

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA — Police in Lower Merion Township will be enforcing seatbelt wearing for about three weeks.

A statewide seatbelt enforcement initiative will underway from May 18 through June 7.

Lower Merion Police will be participating in the “Click It or Ticket” Seat Belt Enforcement initiative

The goal is to reduce unbelted injuries and deaths on Pennsylvania highways through coordinated enforcement using traffic enforcement zones and roving patrols. Traffic enforcement zones combine stationary enforcement and checkpoint tactics on roadways with high numbers of unbuckled crashes. Citations will be issued to motorists who are caught unbuckled or transporting unrestrained children.

According to PennDOT data, there were 12,522 unrestrained crashes that resulted in 398 fatalities in 2018.

Motorists are reminded that Pennsylvania law requires any occupant younger than 18 to buckle up when riding in a vehicle, as well as drivers and front-seat passengers. Children under the age of two must be secured in a rear-facing car seat, and children under the age of four must be restrained in an approved child safety seat. Children must ride in a booster seat until their eighth birthday.

Additionally, drivers and front seat passengers 18 years old or older are required to buckle up. If motorists are stopped for a traffic violation and are not wearing their seat belt, they can receive a second ticket and a second fine.

The statewide mobilization, which includes 350 Pennsylvania municipal agencies, supplements the national “Click It or Ticket” Mobilization which ends on May 31. As part of the initiative, PennDOT distributes federal enforcement funding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.