Drivers traveling through Racine County should be aware: wearing a seat belt and/or making sure everyone else in the car is buckled up is not an option, it’s the law. If motorists don’t click it, drivers and/or their passengers could be ticketed or worse if you’re in accident and not wearing your seat belt.
Area law enforcement – police departments in Caledonia, Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant – will be on the look-out for seat belt use during Click It or Ticket between May 23 and June 5. Officers who observe drivers and/or passengers not wearing their seat belts could face a ticket, but Mount Pleasant police Captain Brian Smith said the campaign is really about saving lives.
“During the Click It or Ticket mobilization and throughout the year, our goal is not to write more tickets,” he said in a written release from the department. “Through enforcement and education, we’re determined to get people to buckle up every time they drive or ride in a vehicle.”
According to the statement, 86 percent of Wisconsin drivers buckle up, which is good news. The bad news, however, is that half of those killed in automobile accidents on state roadways were not wearing their seat belt. In 2015 alone, 55,000 convictions for failure to use a seat belt, the release continues.
Important note: even passengers in back seats must also buckle up.
“Buckling up is the best possible protection against being ejected from a vehicle during a crash or thrown around violently inside it and possibly hitting another person in the vehicle with massive force,” Smith continued. “That’s why Click It or Ticket is more than a slogan to our officers. It really is a life-saving effort.”