A press release from the Crystal Lake Police Department:
The Crystal Lake Police Department Urges Motorists to Safely Celebrate this Memorial Day Holiday Period
The Crystal Lake Police Department will join the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), the Illinois State Police (ISP) and hundreds of local law enforcement agencies across the state for the 2015 Illinois Click It or Ticket campaign which kicks off May 11.
Crystal Lake Police car.
During the campaign, officers will be cracking down both day and night on motorists who fail to wear their seat belt in the front and back seat.
In Illinois, as of January 1, 2012, all drivers and passengers must wear seat belts in all seating positions in the car, not just the front seat.
During statewide observational surveys conducted by IDOT in 2014, the overall usage rate for rear seat occupants was 84 percent versus 94.1 percent for drivers and front seat passengers.
In 2013, back seat passengers in Illinois accounted for 48 fatalities and over 7,500 injuries.
Out of those 48 fatalities, 24 of them were not wearing their seat belt.
Provisional numbers show that during the 2014 Memorial Day weekend there were twelve fatalities on Illinois roadways.
Three of those fatalities were alcohol-related.
Remember – wearing your seat belt is your best defense against an impaired driver.
While this year’s Click It or Ticket enforcement campaign runs from May 11 through May 25, officers are out enforcing seat belt laws year-round.
Buckle up and encourage your loved ones to do the same. You will save the cost of a ticket and may save a life.
The law enforcement crackdown runs concurrently with a media campaign that reminds motorists
to “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” and “Click It or Ticket,” and is administered by the Illinois Department of Transportation with funds made available via the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
For more information about the Click It or Ticket campaign, please visit www.buckleupillinois.org.
Remember: In Illinois, children are required to be in a car seat or booster seat until at least age 8 and all children younger than 13 should ride in the back seat.