The national Click It or Ticket seat-belt awareness campaign began at midnight and will continue through June 4.
Greenwood Mayor Carolyn McAdams issued a proclamation earlier this month regarding the current Click It or Ticket campaign.
The proclamation states that in 2015, the use of seat belts saved an estimated 13,941 lives in the U.S. The mayor urged residents to always wear their seat belts.
“It’s strictly a safety issue. People need to buckle up. These children need to be in their car seats. It saves lives,” said Greenwood Police Chief Ray Moore.
He said that all the department’s patrol officers will be involved in the effort — not just the city’s special seat-belt enforcement details. The effort will be done on a 24/7 basis.
“My officers are issuing citations every day. We are on the look out for seat belts and child restraints” violations, Moore said.
Click It or Ticket, a program of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has been in existence since 2003.
According to NHTSA, nearly half of the 22,441 occupants killed in crashes in 2015 were unbuckled.
In addition, 57 percent of passenger vehicle occupants killed at night were not wearing their seat belts, compared to 40 percent killed during the daytime.
Moore said the use of seat belts and child restraints has improved over the years.
“When I started in law enforcement, almost no one used seat belts, including police officers,” he said.
Still, the chief said, more needs to be done.
Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks said deputies will be enforcing the state’s seat-belt law but there will not be any special enforcement details, such as roadblocks, to catch violators.
Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
