Not Using Your Seat Belt? You Might Want To Start

Madison Police will join local and national law enforcement officers and highway safety advocates all across the country for the 2011 national Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization, May 23 - June 5.

During the mobilization, officers will be cracking down on motorists who fail to wear their seat belts both day and night, Madison Police said in a prepared release.

Because nighttime passenger vehicle occupants are among those least likely to buckle up and most likely to die in crashes when unrestrained, nighttime enforcement has become a priority of the Click It or Ticket mobilization. Of those who died in nighttime crashes in 2009, nearly two-thirds (62 percent) were not wearing seat belts at the time of their fatal crashes.

In 2009, 11,593 passenger vehicle occupants died in motor vehicle crashes nationwide between the nighttime hours of 6:00 p.m. and 5:59 a.m., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.