Letter: Click It or Ticket Campaign: Extra Patrols Will Monitor Seatbelt Use in Port Jervis
The campaign runs May 19 to June 1. Night driving without a seatbelt is more risky than in daytime, statistics show.
The City of Port Jervis Police Department is urging drivers to buckle up during the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) national Click It or Ticket high-visibility enforcement effort. The national seat belt campaign, which coincides with the Memorial Day holiday, runs from May 19 to June 1, 2025.
We want seat belt use to be an automatic habit for drivers and passengers alike. It’s not just a safe thing to do — it’s the law. During the Click It or Ticket campaign, the Port Jervis Police Department will be working with our fellow law enforcement officers across local and state lines to ensure the message gets out to drivers and passengers. Buckling up is the simplest thing you can do to limit injury or save your life during a crash.
According to NHTSA, in 2023, there were 23,959 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in the United States, with nearly 50% of those killed not wearing a seat belt. In that same year, 56% of passenger vehicle occupants killed at night (6 p.m.–5:59 a.m.) were not wearing their seat belts. That’s why one focus of the Click It or Ticket campaign is nighttime enforcement.
No matter the type of vehicle you’re driving in or the type of road you’re driving on, the safest way to stay safe in case of a vehicle crash is to wear your seat belt. NHTSA data shows that seat belt use is higher among females than males. Nearly twice as many males were killed in crashes as compared to females in 2021. Of the males killed in crashes during that same year, more than half (54%) were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 42% were not buckled up.
If the enforcement effort alerts people to the dangers of unrestrained driving, we’ll consider our mission to be a success. If you know a friend or a family member who does not buckle up when they drive, please ask them to consider changing their habits. Help us spread this lifesaving message before one more friend or family member is killed as a result of not buckling up. “Seat belts save lives, and everyone — front seat and back, child and adult — needs to remember to buckle up.”
Extra patrols will be deployed in the City of Port Jervis from our borders with the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, courtesy of grant funding obtained through the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee.
For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit NHTSA.gov/ciot.
William J. Worden, MPA
Chief of Police
FBI NCC Session #5
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