Traffic Enforcement: 'Click It or Ticket' Campaign Underway

Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the busiest travel times of the year. To ensure Fairfax residents drive safely this week, the City of Fairfax Police are joining state and local law enforcement officers by participating in the 2014 National “Click It or Ticket” enforcement campaign from Friday, Nov. 21 to Thursday, Nov. 27.

Motorists found to be in violation of the requirement to wear a seatbelt will be subject to a $25 citation.

“While statewide statistics indicate that Virginia’s seatbelt rate has been increasing steadily, approximately 40 percent of the victims involved in fatal traffic crashes each year were unrestrained at the time of the crash,” the City of Fairfax Police Department wrote in its community bulletin. “A significant number of the crashes involving unrestrained drivers or passengers occurred between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m., with most of these crashes occurring between 12 a.m. and 3 a.m.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 52 percent of all passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes are unrestrained. During the 2012 Thanksgiving holiday (the most recent data available), 416 motorists were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes nationwide. According to NHTSA, 60 percent of passenger vehicle occupants killed were not wearing seat belts and 42 percent were killed in crashes that involved a drunken driver with a blood alcohol content of 0.8 BAC or higher.

City of Fairfax Police Officers will be on patrol around the clock to ensure drivers are complying with the law and wearing their seatbelts at all times.

For more information on the Click It or Ticket campaign, visit www.nhtsa.gov.