'Click It or Ticket' Nets 10,318 Occupant Protection Charges in First Week; Statewide Campaign Follows Four-County Initiative That Boosted Local Use Rates

RALEIGH, N.C., May 29 -- More than 10,000 drivers and passengers were cited for seat belt and child passenger safety violations during the first week of the spring "Click It or Ticket" campaign, which was launched May 17.

"We had hoped that more people would have gotten the message by now," said Don Nail, acting director of the Governor's Highway Safety Program. "It's regrettable that it takes a ticket for some people to buckle up and obey the law. Officers across the state have shown, however, that they are ready to do whatever it takes to get people to take this safety issue seriously."

The statewide buckle-up campaign follows a successful April initiative that focused on four counties with the lowest report seat belt use rates. Richmond County, which for several years has had the lowest seat belt use rate in the state, made the most significant gain. A pre-campaign survey demonstrated a use rate of just 69 percent, but after the campaign the use rate soared nearly 19 points to 87.6 percent.

Other counties that increased their seat belt use rate are Buncombe, which went from 75 percent to 82.6 percent; Caldwell, which went from 76 percent to 89.4 percent, and Mecklenburg, which went from 76.6 percent to 79.7 percent.

Citation data from the current campaign was reported by law enforcement agencies in each county and compiled by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. During the first week, officers wrote 9,520 seat belt tickets and 798 child passenger safety violations. Counties with the highest number of seat belt citations include Wake with 1,044, Wayne with 540, and Surry with 452. Wake County also recorded the highest number of driving while impaired (DWI) violations, with 109 citations issued.

Besides cracking down on seat belt and child passenger safety violators, officers across the state last week charged 1,269 motorists with DWI. They discovered a total of 40,003 violations, including 624 drug charges, 18 stolen vehicles, and 10 fugitives from justice. The campaign continues through June 2. 


                               Statewide Totals

                       DWI               Occupant Restraint

    Total            Driving       Seat Belt      Child Passenger
    Checkpoints       While        Violations     Safety Violations
    and Patrols      Impaired
                    Violations

     1,873            1,269           9,520              798
  (May 17-26)


                               Statewide Totals

                              Traffic Violations


                         Speeding           Total
                                           Traffic
                                          Violations

                          10,818            37,814



                               Statewide Totals

                             Criminal Violations

    Drug                 Firearm         Stolen Vehicles   Fugitives Arrested*
    Violations           Violations      Recovered*

      624                    46              18                    10


    Other                Total            Total Traffic &
    Criminal             Criminal         Criminal Violations
    Violations           Violations
    Not Listed

      1,519                 2,189              40,003


    *These columns are not counted into overall total of violations