Additional patrols are planned through June 5 in the state’s annual Click It or Ticket campaign for seat belt use.
In Clallam and Jefferson counties, the Port Angeles, Port Townsend and Sequim police departments, the Clallam and Jefferson county sheriff’s offices and the State Patrol began the extra patrols Monday.
A ticket for failure to wear a seat belt is $136.
The extra patrols are coordinated through the Clallam and Jefferson Regional Target Zero Traffic Safety Task Force.
They are part of Target Zero, which aims to end traffic deaths and serious injuries in Washington state by 2030.
“Your family is waiting for you. For their sake, buckle up,” said Stanzi Hay, a senior at Asotin High School in eastern Washington who developed a year-long safe driving campaign at her school.
Although Hay found in a survey that nearly nine out of 10 students and adults arrived at her school buckled up, she was concerned about those who weren’t, so she developed the campaign.
‘A big deal’
“Unsafe behavior behind the wheel is a big deal,” the Washington Traffic Safety Commission quoted her as saying in a news release.
“The decision to not buckle up while driving kills teens just like me every day across America,” she said.
One of her projects was a three-week-long seat belt campaign at Asotin High School called, “Buckle Up: Your Family is Waiting for You!”
Her point was that decisions made within a vehicle impact others’ lives.
The campaign resulted in increased seat belt use among fellow-students, and by the end, 96 percent were arriving to school protected by seat belts, the traffic safety commission said.
That’s slightly higher than the state seat belt use rate of 95 percent found in a traffic safety commission survey in 2015.
Even though that statistic makes Washington drivers and passengers among the best in the nation for buckling up, about 100 people who were not using their seat belts die annually in the state, the traffic safety commission said.
For more information, visit www.targetzero.com.
Additional information about the Washington Traffic Safety Commission can be found at www.wtsc.wa.gov.
