Click it or ticket

From now until October 3, extra law enforcement patrols from Whatcom County will be monitoring city streets, state roads and the interstate looking for drivers who aren’t buckled up, so remember Click It or Ticket. The ticket for not wearing a seatbelt carries a fine of $101.
Since 1996, on average, more than 56 percent of the victims in fatal accidents in Whatcom County, were not wearing their seatbelt. Studies show that a person wearing a seatbelt has a 70 percent higher chance of surviving a crash than a non-belted person. During the Click It or Ticket patrols last fall, Whatcom County officers cited 270 non-seatbelt wearers.

Since the inception of the Click It or Ticket project, in May 2002, about 70 lives have been saved in Washington each year due to increases in seat belt use. Traffic safety officials estimate that for every fatality avoided, about eight serious injuries and 40 lesser injuries were avoided, too.