Additional Information Contact:
ASP Highway Safety Office – Ann Whitehead
(501) 618-8133  –  [email protected]

(LITTLE ROCK) – Traveling during the Thanksgiving holiday will be on the rise and more state troopers, county sheriff’s deputies, local police and officers of other departments will be out to make sure drivers and passengers are properly using their seat belts.

  Arkansas law enforcement officers will participate in a holiday Click It or Ticket campaign.  The stepped-up enforcement covers a seven day period beginning Monday, November 20th.

  Seat belt usage has been proven to save lives and with millions of Americans on the road during the holiday, law enforcement officers want to make certain everyone gets to their destination and returns home safely.

  The Click It or Ticket campaign is designed to save lives by combining powerful messages to the public about seat belt safety with increased law enforcement patrols aimed at unbuckled motorists.

  “More than half of the people who died in fatal traffic crashes during the Thanksgiving holiday period of 2015 were not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash,” said Colonel Bill Bryant, Director of the Arkansas State Police and Governor’s Highway Safety Representative. “This year we’ll be out in full force looking for drivers and passengers who are not buckled up.  Violators will be pulled over and ticketed.”

  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), during the 2015 Thanksgiving holiday period (6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25, through 5:59 a.m. on Monday, November 30), there were 301 passenger vehicle occupants killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes nationwide, and 53 percent of those killed were not wearing seat belts.

  Many of these tragic deaths could have been prevented by seat belt use.  According to NHTSA research, proper seat belt use reduces the risk of fatal injury to front seat passengers by 45 percent and the risk of moderate to serious injury by 50 percent.

  During calendar year 2015, nationwide, seat belts were credited with saving the lives of 13,941 passenger vehicle occupants.

  For more information about the Click It or Ticket Thanksgiving campaign, visit trafficsafetymarketing.gov or call the Arkansas Highway Safety Office at (501) 618-8136. For more on Arkansas’ ongoing Toward Zero Deaths campaign to eliminate preventable traffic fatalities, visit TZDArkansas.org.