Contact: Elaine Tricoli
Phone: (336) 373-2421

 “Click It or Ticket” Celebrates 15th Year with Greensboro Event

GREENSBORO, NC – (May 20, 2008) – The “Click It or Ticket” program celebrated its 15th anniversary – and 2,000 lives that have been saved – today during a presentation on the Phill G. McDonald Governmental Plaza on Greene Street. The Greensboro Police Department, along with several other local law enforcement agencies, participated in the event, which was followed by a seatbelt checkpoint on Elm-Eugene Street.

The annual “Click It or Ticket” campaign will continue through June 1, encompassing the Memorial Day holiday weekend when millions of motorists will take to the highways. Seatbelt checkpoints will be set up across the state during the campaign, and officers will be checking to ensure that people are buckled up and that child safety seat laws are obeyed.

Don Nail, the assistant director of the Governor’s Highway Safety Program, said last year’s seatbelt usage reached an all-time high of 88.8 percent. When the program began in 1993, the state’s seatbelt usage rate was 65 percent. Since that time, officers have set up 54,000 checkpoints and have issued some 400,000 tickets to motorists who were not buckled up.

“Last year, we estimated that seatbelts had saved about 1,600 lives in North Carolina, and now that has probably surpassed 2,000,” Nail said. “But we’re still losing too many unrestrained people in traffic accidents.”

In 2006, 617 people who were not wearing seatbelts were killed in traffic accidents, he said, and 39 percent of all fatalities involve unrestrained motorists.

Greensboro Police Chief Tim Bellamy said seatbelt usage rates can continue to increase with education and enforcement.

“Today, more and more drivers are preoccupied when they get behind the wheel,” he said. “They are sending text messages, talking on cell phones, and focusing on a number of things other than driving. Often, they don’t even think about buckling up when they get in the car. But with our continued efforts on education and enforcement, seatbelt usage numbers will go up and the number of fatalities will go down.”

The “Click It or Ticket” program, which is administered by the NC Governor’s Highway Safety Program, began as a pilot project in 1993. Since that time, it has become a model for
similar programs throughout the country. The Greensboro Police Department serves as the regional coordinator for the “Click It or Ticket” program.

For more information, contact the Governor’s Highway Safety Program at (919) 733-3083 or visit www.ncdot.org/programs/ghsp.

 #  #  #

The City of Greensboro works in partnership with the community to build an increased quality of life for all residents by fostering an environment where inclusion, diversity, and trust are valued. As the seventh largest employer in Greensboro, the City has a dedicated professional staff of 2700 employees who maintain four core values of honesty, integrity, stewardship, and respect. The City of Greensboro is governed by a council-manager form of government where a mayor and eight council members act as the legislative body. For more information on the City of Greensboro, please visit us online at www.greensboro-nc.gov.