'Click It or Ticket:' Buckle Up, Strongsville

 Strongsville Police will join the national Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization May 20 to June 2.

"We'll have extra officers out on the major thoroughfares," Sgt. Mike Grywalsky said. "There will be zero tolerance."

Don't think you can sneak by unbuckled in the dark, either. Because nighttime passengers are least likely to buckle up and the most likely to die in crashes, overnight enforcement has become a priority of the Click It or Ticket mobilization.

 Of those who died in nighttime crashes in 2009, nearly two-thirds (62 percent) were not wearing seat belts, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In 2009, 11,593 passengers died in motor vehicle crashes nationwide between 6 p.m. and 5:59 a.m., the NHTSA said.

“Many more nighttime traffic deaths can be prevented if more motorists simply start wearing their seat belts," Grywalsky said. 

High-visibility enforcement like the Click It or Ticket campaign is credited with increasing the national belt usage rate from 58 percent in 1994 to an observed usage rate of 85 percent in 2010.

 In 2009 alone, seat belts saved 12,713 lives nationwide.

“Law enforcement will be cracking down on Click It or Ticket violators around the clock," Grywalsky said. "If law enforcement finds you on the road unbuckled anytime or anywhere, you can expect to get a ticket — not a warning. No excuses and no exceptions."