Click it or ticket. That’s the message LaPorte Police sent to motorists during a recent Operation Pull Over-funded enforcement blitz. They wrote 51 seat belt and three car seat violation citations during a mid-February campaign. During the past 11 days the LaPorte Police Department responded to 46 property damage and five personal injury crashes, affecting a total of nine people. Of the personal injury crashes, two occupants were not restrained, and two were injured.
LaPorte Police Captain Tom Heath notes the severe winter weather played a significant role in the high number of crashes. He adds the number of injuries would have been much higher if not for the relatively high seatbelt usage in the community. Heath adds making sure you and your loved ones are properly restrained 100 percent of the time while in a vehicle is the single best strategy for preventing or reducing traffic crash injuries.
Operation Pull Over is a traffic safety grant program funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and administered by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. The goal of Operation Pull Over is reducing traffic crash injuries and fatalities by promoting passenger restraint use and supporting enforcement aimed at reducing impaired and dangerous driving. Learn more about Operation Pull Over, the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, and its other programs by visiting http://www.in.gov/cji.
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