AVON – Wear a seat belt or pay $65. That’s the choice motorists have, particularly this week in Franklin County.
In an effort to encourage people to wear seat belts, police are participating in a two-week “click it or ticket blitz,” issuing warnings and citations for violating the law, Deputy Aaron Turcotte of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, five deputies and one state trooper stopped more than 1,000 vehicles in five hours at a roadblock on Route 4 in Avon. They issued 50 citations for seat-belt violations, Turcotte said.
“Most people were pretty receptive to the message that we care about their safety,” he added.
The program was made possible through a federal grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to pay law enforcement agents to work the special detail.
According to the highway safety administration, more than 42,000 people are killed annually in traffic accidents nationwide. Another 3 million are injured, it said. Americans are much more likely to lose their lives in a motor vehicle accident than in an act of domestic terrorism, it says.
The program directs special attention to teens and young adults who are inexperienced, risk-takers and less likely to wear seat belts. Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death in teens and young adults, the national traffic safety figures state.
According to Turcotte, in addition to the 50 seat-belt violations issued at the checkpoint Tuesday, police arrested two habitual offenders for Class C charges of operating after suspension and summoned three people for possession of marijuana.
The campaign will continue through Sunday.
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