CHARLESTON, W.Va. –The Governor’s Highway Safety Program is encouraging drivers to buckle up on the highways of West Virginia during the month of March. Failure may be a costly mistake.
“We are having a statewide mini-blitz for Click-it or Ticket as a way to lead up to the national campaign in May,” said Amy Cantrell, Spokesperson for the Governor’s Highway Safety program.
The program is trying to build on the success of the past and maintain the statewide seatbelt usage rate of 90.17 percent. Cantrell said while that’s good, it could be better.
“We’d like to build on that and get to 100 percent to be honest. But we’re going to do our best to get as close as we can,” she added.
Throughout the month of March there will be special law enforcement patrols dedicated exclusively to enforcing the state’s primary seat belt law. Cantrell said as part of the campaign there will be no warnings given and there will be zero tolerance for not using a restraint for yourself and all passengers in your car.
“Zero tolerance. It will be a ticket,” Cantrell said.
You’ll also be seeing and hearing more educational material in the media raising the awareness of seat belt use.
According to Cantrell the state has come a long way. In 2000, the state’s seat belt use was around 49 percent, but that jumped exponentially when the state legislature passed the primary seat belt law which allowed for a motorist to be pulled over and ticketed if they were observed unrestrained in a vehicle.
According to the Governor’s Highway Safety Program information, In 2019, there were 9,466 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in the United States. People who live in rural areas might believe that their crash exposure is lower, but in 2019, there were 11,971 passenger vehicle fatalities in rural locations, compared to 10,187 fatalities in urban locations. Out of those fatalities, 48% of those killed in the rural locations were not wearing their seat belts, compared to 45% in urban locations.
The March mini-blitz in West Virginia will lead up to the National Click It or Ticket campaign during May.