Log In


Reset Password
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

Added seat belt patrols set for this week

La Plata County issued 14 citations during Click It or Ticket 2015
Sgt. Rob Marone, child passenger safety coordinator for the Colorado State Patrol, demonstrates the correct procedure when strapping in a child in a car seat. Sitting in the car seat in this 2003 photo are, left, Christopher Duff, 3, and Blake Duff, 5, survivors of a crash in which the vehicle they were riding in was rear-ended by a drunken driver. The State Patrol has launched its 2016 Click It or Ticket campaign to encourage seat belt use.

Local law enforcement agencies are working with the Colorado Department of Transportation and Colorado State Patrol to increase enforcement of seat belt use in rural communities through the Click It or Ticket campaign, which began Monday and runs through April 3.

During the 2015 campaign, La Plata County Sheriff’s Office invested 46 additional hours and issued a total of 14 citations for not wearing seat belts that week, according to CDOT statistics. All citations were issued to individuals 21 and older.

The Sheriff’s Office participated in the program for the first time last year.

Spokesman Dan Bender said some drivers in rural La Plata County may not be inclined to buckle up if they’re driving a short distance.

“In rural communities, the consensus among deputies is that drivers in the agriculture industry dealing with hay growing, livestock and a variety of ag activities are sometimes driving half a mile from one farm to another, one home to another a short distance, and that’s where they find people are not wearing seat belts.”

In rural communities throughout Colorado, law enforcement cited 1,342 people during the heightened enforcement period, resulting in a 5.2 percent increase in observed seat belt use, from 76 percent before Click It or Ticket week, to 81 percent after.

Still, seat belt use in rural communities is below the state average, which is 85 percent. The national average is 87 percent.

La Plata and Montezuma counties, however, did a little better than the state and national averages for 2015, coming in at 91.1 percent and 91.5 percent, respectively, for seat belt use.

Unbelted passengers account for most motor vehicle crash fatalities. CDOT statistics for 2015 show 56 percent of passenger vehicle traffic deaths were unbuckled fatalities.

Fines for not wearing a seat belt range from a minimum $65 to $82 if a child passenger is not seated and buckled in appropriately.



Reader Comments