Published on Wednesday, May 23, 2007
in the Ocala Star-Banner

Local officials kick off state's annual seat belt campaign

OCALA - In plain view Tuesday, for everyone on the downtown Ocala square, was a grim reminder of what can happen when seat belts are not used by drivers and their passengers.

Flanked on either side of law enforcement vehicles were 32 green headstones representing the number of people who died in the state while not wearing seat belts during the 2006 Memorial Day weekend.

The drastic demonstration was done for a reason.

"Our main goal is to save lives," said Barry Wall, a Florida Department of Transportation Community Traffic Safety Program manager.

State and local officials want to remind people that wearing seat belts not only saves lives, but prevents serious injuries, and that's why they kicked off the state's annual "Click It or Ticket" campaign Tuesday. The campaign runs May 21 through June 3.

The 96-hour Memorial Day weekend is one of the deadliest holidays of the year, so police from the Dunnellon, Belleview and Ocala police departments, Marion County Sheriff's Office and Florida Highway Patrol, will join forces to let motorist know there is zero tolerance for not buckling up.

"We're going to be pretty aggressive in our efforts," Lt. Mike Thomas of FHP said.

Tickets issued for not wearing a seat belt is not cheap. The cost of receiving such a ticket is $76.50. Although it's a secondary violation, meaning law enforcement officials cannot just pull someone over for not being strapped in, getting a ticket can become very expensive. For example, if a motorist is stopped for a moving violation - like following too close or passing in a no passing zone - the average ticket costs $120.50. And, if the driver is not wearing a seat belt, that's an additional $76.50.

According to a survey in 2006, 80.7 percent of Floridians were wearing their seat belts, up 9.2 percent from the year before. It also showed that men were 9 percent less likely to buckle up. People 60 and older wore their belts 88.3 percent of the time, compared to 79.3 percent of drivers between the ages of 16 to 59.

Locally, in 2005, a total of 109 people died in traffic related accidents in Ocala/Marion County. Of that number, 56 people were not buckled up. In 2006, the number of deaths decreased significantly to 70. However, the number of people not wearing their safety device, 37, remained high. So far this year, of the 31 deaths, 11, were not restrained.

The number of people not buckled up in Ocala/Marion County was also high. In 2005, sheriff's deputies issued 1,830 seat belt tickets, while in 2006, the number was 1,811. In the case of the OPD, in 2005, the number was 1,559. In 2006, it jumped to 1,922.

"We must buckle up and make others buckle up," Lt. Dennis Yonce of the Ocala Police Department said.