North Hudson Police stress seat-belt use

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The North Hudson Police Department will intensify its enforcement of Wisconsin’s mandatory safety belt law during the annual Click It or Ticket mobilization May 21-June 3. Approximately 400 law enforcement agencies statewide are participating.

Traffic deaths in Wisconsin so far this year have increased compared with the same time last year. And in many recent fatal crashes, the drivers and passengers were ejected from their vehicles because they were not buckled up.

To save lives and prevent injuries, NHPD officers will stop a vehicle and issue tickets whenever they see an unbuckled driver or passenger. The goal during Click It or Ticket and throughout the year is not to write more tickets. Through enforcement and education, officers are trying to convince everyone to buckle up voluntarily so that eventually they can help reduce the number of preventable traffic deaths to zero in Wisconsin.

Law enforcement agencies throughout the state are cracking down on unbelted motorists, and if voluntary compliance fails, officers will issue tickets. Last year, there were nearly 85,000 convictions for failure to fasten safety belts. Among all traffic violations, safety belt convictions in Wisconsin were second only to speeding convictions, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

Consistent safety belt has been shown to protect occupants from 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.

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