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Fasten your seat belt – or pay the price

State Patrol will have ‘zero tolerance’ this week
The Colorado State Patrol will be cracking down on those driving without seat belts for the next week. Fines increase if children are not restrained.

Buckle up, or it will cost you big bucks if you’re caught without a seat restraint while driving.

The latest Click It or Ticket campaign started Monday and runs through Sunday.

“We’re coming down on it pretty heavily,” Capt. Adrian Driscoll, commander of the Colorado State Patrol office in Durango, said Monday. “We have 90 hours of overtime. There will be zero tolerance.”

The fine for no seat belt is $65, plus a $9.50 surcharge, Driscoll said. Fines rise if a child is found without a restraint. The fines do not take points off the driver’s record.

Troopers will be on alert for seat-belt scofflaws from Pagosa Springs to the Cortez area and north to Silverton, Driscoll said.

Law-enforcement officials and the Colorado Department of Transportation want to reach 84 percent seat-belt compliance this year, which will require a 1.6 percent increase.

In 2013, 177 of 317, or 56 percent, of motor vehicle occupants who died in a crash were not wearing a seat belt or other restraint.

Last year, the Click It or Ticket campaign cited 1,723 drivers for seat-belt violations, 91 percent of them older than 21 years old. In contrast, drivers ages 16 to 20 accounted for 1 percent.

daler@durangoherald.com



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