The Memorial Day holiday weekend begins the busy summertime season. Please be careful in whatever you do as we enter this time of year. One thing to do is buckle your seat belts.Texarkana, Texas Police Officers will participate in the national Click It or Ticket campaign from  Monday, May 18 through Sunday, May 31. During this period, officers will work overtime in areas of Texarkana identified for the high number of traffic crashes and lower compliance with traffic laws. The primary focus of this campaign will be seatbelt compliance. Officers will be working at various times of the day.

According to Chief Dan Shiner, “Wearing your seat belt is your best defense against death and injury. In order to prevent unneeded heartache and problems that can result from not buckling up, we want to remind everyone to always properly wear your seat belt, make sure younger children are seated in the correct car seats for their size and age; and make sure all children 12 and younger are riding in the back seat and are also buckled up.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), properly worn lap-shoulder belts reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat occupants by 45 percent. Texas law requires all vehicle drivers and passengers to be buckled in a seat belt or face fines and court costs up to $200.

Click It or Ticket is considered the most successful seat belt enforcement campaign ever, helping to increase the national seat belt usage rate. The cornerstone of NHTSA's seat belt communications program is the national Click It or Ticket May Mobilization. The primary audience continues to be men ages 18 to 34, which research shows are less likely to wear seat belts.

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