CBPD release – The Coos Bay Police Department (CBPD) is urging drivers to buckle up during the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) national Click It or Ticket high-visibility enforcement effort. The national seat belt campaign, which coincides with the Memorial Day holiday, runs from May 22 to June 4, 2023. During the Click It or Ticket campaign, CBPD officers will use federally funded overtime to enforce and educate the public on safety belt and child seat laws. CBPD would like to see seatbelt use to be an automatic habit for drivers and passengers alike. Buckling up is a simple thing you can do to limit injury or save your life during a crash. Nationwide, of the 23,824 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2020, 51% were not wearing seat belts (NHTSA). In Oregon, according to 2020 crash data from the Oregon Department of Transportation, lack of safety belt or child restraint use was a factor in 32% or 100 of a total 311 motor vehicle occupant fatalities. In 2020, 1,019 children under twelve were injured in Oregon traffic crashes; 10% were reported not using a child restraint system. It is estimated that car seats may increase crash survival by 71% for infants under one-year-old and by up to 59% for toddlers aged one to four. Booster seats may reduce the chance of nonfatal injury among four- to eight-year-olds by 45% compared to safety belts used alone. This enforcement is made possible by grant funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Oregon Department of Transportation.
For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.
