'Click It Or Ticket' 1998 Results In 13,181 Seat Belt Citations
17 September 1998
'Click It Or Ticket' 1998 Results In 13,181 Seat Belt Citations Issued In Three Weeks
RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 16 -- North Carolina law enforcement
officers issued 13,181 seat belt and 998 child safety seat citations as part
of the second wave of the 1998 "Click It or Ticket" campaign. The citations
are a result of checkpoints and random patrols across the state from Monday,
Aug. 24, to Sunday, Sept. 13. Despite the pounding from Hurricane Bonnie and
the remnants of rain from Hurricane Earl, law enforcement officers still held
1,288 "Click It or Ticket" seat belt checkpoints during the three-week period.
The three-week enforcement numbers were reported by the law enforcement
agencies in each county and compiled by the North Carolina State Highway
Patrol.
"Even though this wave of 'Click It or Ticket' is completed, law
enforcement officers across the state are still enforcing the state's seat
belt and child safety seat laws," said Joe Parker, director of the Governor's
Highway Safety Program. "We appreciate officers' efforts to save lives and
prevent injuries and remind motorists that 'Click It or Ticket' will continue
-- so please buckle up on every trip."
Besides cracking down on seat belt violators, law enforcement officers
charged 2,925 with driving while impaired during the three-week campaign. They
discovered a total of 64,825 violations, including 654 drug charges, 58
firearm violations, 50 stolen vehicles, and five fugitives from justice. The
goal of "Click It or Ticket" is to boost seat belt use in North Carolina --
saving lives, preventing injuries and reducing the massive health-care costs
associated with traffic crashes. The following are the statewide totals for
each week of the second wave of the 1998 "Click It or Ticket" program and the
combined tally for all three weeks:
Statewide Totals
Occupant Restraint DWI Traffic Violations
Week Total Seat Belt Child Safety Driving Speeding Total Traffic
Checkpoints Viol. Seat Viol. While Viol.
Impaired
Viol.
Aug.
24-30 417 4,150 324 960 6,574 19,123
Aug. 31-
Sept. 6 400 4,700 346 1,002 8,044 21,968
Sept.
7-13 471 4,331 328 963 8,273 21,417
Three-
Week
totals 1,288 13,181 998 2,925 22,891 62,508
Criminal Violations
Week Misd. Felony Firearms Stolen Fugitives Other
Drug Drug Viol. Vehicles Arrested Criminal
Viol. Viol. Recovered Viol.
Not Listed
Aug.
24-30 162 34 10 26 0 673
Aug. 31
-Sept. 6 196 46 31 13 3 713
Sept.
7-13 186 30 17 11 2 164
Three-
Week
Totals 544 110 58 50 5 1,550
Week Total Criminal Total Traffic &
Violations Criminal Violations
Aug.
24-30 905 20,028
Aug. 31
-Sept. 6 1,002 22,970
Sept.
7-13 410 21,827
Three-
Week
Totals 2,317 64,825
For county-by-county "Click It or Ticket" numbers, contact Jill Warren
Lucas or Frank Smith at the Governor's Highway Safety Program, 919-733-3083.
For more information about North Carolina highway safety programs, visit
the GHSP site at http://www.dot.state.nc.us/services/ghsp/.