be_safe_pa.jpg

LOWER WINDSOR TOWNSHIP, PA - For three weeks, Lower Windsor Township Police will be out and making sure drivers and passengers are wearing seatbelts.

Lower Windsor Township Police will participate in a national "Click It or Ticket" seatbelt enforcement initiative from Monday, May 16 through Sunday, June 5.

The goal is to reduce unbelted injuries and deaths on Pennsylvania highways through coordinated enforcement using Traffic Enforcement Zones and Roving Patrols.

Traffic Enforcement Zones combine stationary enforcement and checkpoint tactics on roadways with high numbers of unbuckled crashes.

Citations will be issued to motorists who are caught unbuckled or transporting unrestrained children.

According to PennDOT data, there were 11,265 unrestrained crashes that resulted in 348 fatalities in 2020.

Motorists are reminded that Pennsylvania's 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.

A law that went into effect in August 2016 requires a child under 2 years of age to be securely fastened in a rear-facing child passenger restraint system, which is to be used until the child outgrows the maximum weight and limits designated by the manufacturer.

In addition, children ages 8 to 18 must be wearing a seat belt when riding anywhere in the vehicle.

Also, drivers and front-seat passengers 18 years-old 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.

The effort, which includes 400 Pennsylvania municipal agencies, supplements the national "Click It or Ticket" mobilization which runs through June 5.

As part of the initiative, PennDOT distributes federal enforcement funding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

For more information on seat belt safety, visit www.PennDOT.gov/safety.