The latest edition of the high visibility Click It or Ticket seat belt awareness campaign is a short one, covering just Thanksgiving Weekend.
Subtitled “Buckle Up, Every Trip, Every Time,” it starts Wednesday evening at 6:00 and ends at 6:00 the following Monday morning.
Members of the nation’s law enforcement community will be out in force, working together to reduce the number of fatalities that occur when drivers and passengers fail to buckle up.
The Nebraska Dept of Transportation – Highway Safety Office is once again providing grants to law enforcement agencies across the state to cover the overtime costs of putting more officers on the road for the week.
Grants were given to 40 local agencies and the Nebraska State Patrol, but the Chadron and Scottsbluff Police Departments are the only recipients in the Panhandle.
Chadron Police Sgt Chelsey Stolley says the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the deadliest of the year with the lack of seatbelt use one of the primary reasons.
Half of the 361 people killed in traffic accidents over Thanksgiving in 2021 were not wearing seatbelt – deaths Sgt Stolley says may well have been prevented by wearing a seatbelt.
She says “Whether you’re driving cross-country or across the street, whether it is day or night, it is essential that you wear a seat belt because it may very well mean the difference between life and death.
Nebraska law requires the driver, each front-seat passenger, and all children between 6-and-18 years of age to wear seat belts with children under 6 in an approved and fastened support or booster seat.
Seat belt violations are secondary offenses under Nebraska law with citations issued only if the vehicle is stopped for a primary violation.