{"id":16048,"date":"2013-05-21T07:00:42","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T11:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=16048"},"modified":"2013-05-20T16:42:38","modified_gmt":"2013-05-20T20:42:38","slug":"seat-belt-enforcement-initiative-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=16048","title":{"rendered":"Seat-belt enforcement initiative begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Failure to buckle up can result in citations, officials warn<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>The majority of traffic fatalities involving unbuckled victims occurred at night last year, spurring a nighttime emphasis on a \u201cClick It or Ticket\u201d seat-belt enforcement effort beginning Monday and extending through June 9, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).<\/p>\n

PennDOT is partnering with more than 600 law enforcement agencies and the Pennsylvania State Police on the initiative, a PennDOT news release said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith heavy traffic expected for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, it\u2019s crucial that we encourage drivers now to make sure that all passengers are properly restrained whenever they travel,\u201d State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan said. \u201cI\u2019m again directing our troopers to adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward violations of the state\u2019s seat-belt and child-passenger restraint laws during this campaign period.\u201d<\/p>\n

Motorists are reminded that Pennsylvania\u2019s primary seat-belt law requires drivers and passengers under 18 years old to buckle up, and children under the age of 4 must be properly restrained in an approved child-safety seat. Children ages 4 to 8 must be restrained in an appropriate booster seat. In addition, children ages 8 to 18 must be buckled when riding anywhere in the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Also, drivers and front-seat passengers aged 18 or older are required to buckle up. If motorists are stopped for a traffic violation and are not wearing their seat belt, they can receive a second ticket and second fine.<\/p>\n

According to PennDOT data, 503 people died last year in unbelted crashes, a decrease from 509 such fatalities in 2011. The total number of crashes in which people were not wearing seat belts also decreased to 15,528, compared to 16,298 in 2011. \u2028Among the unbuckled fatalities, 275 occurred between 6 p.m. and 5:59 a.m., and 170 occurred between 10 p.m. and 2:59 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the start of the summer travel season approaches, I strongly encourage everyone to buckle up every time, no matter how far you\u2019re traveling,\u201d PennDOT Secretary Barry J. Schoch said. \u201cThe majority of crashes happen within 25 miles from home, and you are 60 percent more likely to survive a crash if you\u2019re buckled up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funding for the enforcement effort comes from part of PennDOT\u2019s statewide distribution of $1.7 million in federal funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the release said. Visit www.JustDrivePA.com f<\/a>or more information on seat-belt and other safety initiatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Failure to buckle up can result in citations, officials warn The majority of traffic fatalities involving unbuckled victims occurred at night last year, spurring a nighttime emphasis on a \u201cClick It or Ticket\u201d seat-belt enforcement effort beginning Monday and extending through June 9, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT). PennDOT is partnering with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":16053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3446,137,1820],"class_list":["post-16048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-click-it-or-ticket","tag-penndot","tag-pennsylvania-state-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}