Clark County law enforcement agencies are increasing patrols from now until June 2 for the annual statewide Click It or Ticket Campaign.
The extra officers, who hit the streets Monday, will focus on drivers who aren’t wearing seat belts.
Most people buckle up. Those who don’t put themselves at risk. Not wearing a seat restraint contributes to more than 100 deaths every year in Washington, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. Most of the fatal crashes involve men between the ages of 21 to 25.
Nearly every Clark County police department is participating in the heightened enforcement, including Battle Ground, La Center, Ridgefield, Vancouver and Washougal. The Clark County Sheriff’s Office and Washington State Patrol are also helping out.
An observational study conducted by the traffic safety commission found that statewide seat belt use was 93.2 percent among vehicle occupants in 2018, compared to a national seat belt use rate of 89.7 percent in 2017.
Vancouver police Chief James McElvain said in a prepared statement that Clark County has a seat belt use rate of 97 percent. The chief asked law abiding citizens to encourage others to use restraints to help get the community to 100 percent.
Scott Waller, occupant protection program manager with the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, said parents should instill a lifelong habit by encouraging their teenage drivers to always buckle up.
Nationally, among young adults 18 to 34 killed in crashes in 2017, more than half (57 percent) were completely unrestrained — one of the highest percentages for all age groups, according to the traffic safety commission.
Given the high number of young drivers who aren’t wearing seat belts, the traffic safety commission is sharing a “horror-movie style video ad” that depicts a young man and woman being chased by a chainsaw-wielding man: https://vimeo.com/267259001.
The woman in the video exits an escape vehicle when she realizes the driver isn’t wearing a seat belt, opting to take her chances of fleeing Leatherface on foot.
“The ad uses humor to get a very serious point across,” Waller said. “Your odds of dying in a crash are four times greater if you are not buckled up.”
