CARY, NC – Cary police will once again participate in the Click It or Ticket Campaign November 16 through December 2 sponsored by the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign in collaboration with the US Department of Transportation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the NC Governor’s Highway Safety Program. Police will be carrying out special patrols as well as putting up a seat belt checkpoint at various times and locations throughout the campaign period.

According to a May 2001 report by the National Safety Council, while seat belt usage in the United States has increased from 58 percent to 71 percent in the last five years, traffic fatalities still plague the nation as a leading cause of death for adults and teenagers, and as the number one killer of children. An estimated 9,553 of the 32,061 drivers and passengers who were killed in vehicle crashes on the nation’s roadways in 1999 would be alive today if they had been restrained.

While North Carolina’s seat belt usage is above the national average at 80.5 percent, traffic fatalities continue to fall as seat belt usage increases. For this reason, the Town of Cary continues to promote and enforce the use of seat belts and encourages all drivers to buckle up and make sure that their passengers are also buckled.

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