SHEBOYGAN, WI (WHBL) - 24 people were ticketed in Sheboygan for not wearing a seatbelt during the first three days of the Click It or Ticket campaign.
Sheboygan Police Captain Jim Veeser says the number of tickets handed out so far is on average with past years. "I know that people have busy lives, or they have that habit of not wearing their safety belt, but I have seen an increase in people wearing their safety belts which is a good thing," says Veeser.
Veeser gives the credit for more seatbelt use to the Click it or Ticket campaign, the state law that requires seat belt use, and teaching younger kids to buckle up.
"People are aware that they’re supposed to wear a safety belt," says Veeser. "Then you start to have that culture of individuals doing such."
The Click it or Ticket campaign continues through the end of May.
Seat belt use has indeed grown in Wisconsin. The most recent numbers state 85 percent of all drivers and passengers do wear a seatbelt when on the road, the highest percentage ever for the state. That does put the state a few percentage points lower than the national average.
According to the Wisconsin DOT, seat belt violations were cited nearly 56-thousand times in 2014. That is the lowest number over the past ten years. However, this certain citation has consistently ranked in the top three of all citations issued in the past decade.
The use of seatbelts is also the best way to prevent a deadly end if involved in an accident. The DOT says over half of all fatalities in traffic crashes were people not wearing a seatbelt.
