The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) Highway Safety Office is joining State and local law enforcement to step up enforcement of seat belt laws leading up to and during the Thanksgiving holiday. The Click It or Ticket national seat belt campaign, aimed at enforcing seat belt use, begins November 23 and runs through November 30, 2022.
“Whether someone is driving down the street or across the state to a Thanksgiving Day football game or turkey dinner, it’s critical that drivers and passengers buckle up,” Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti said. “Buckling your seat belt isn’t only safe, it’s the law.”
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 2020, there were 333 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes across the nation. More than half (52 percent) were unrestrained. Nighttime proved more deadly than daytime, with 67 percent of Thanksgiving weekend fatal crashes occurring at night.
Preliminary data for 2021 shows that 144 Connecticut residents lost their lives because they were not wearing seat belts.
The current seat belt compliance rate is 92.1 percent, up from 91.5 percent in 2021.
Law enforcement officials will be out in full force on Connecticut’s roads to issue citations to those who are unbuckled.
“We want everyone to have a safe and happy holiday season, so please, make sure everyone in your vehicle – whether in the front or the back – is buckled up before you even turn on the car,” added Giulietti. “This Thanksgiving, and every day of the year, remember: Click It or Ticket.”
Connecticut law requires all drivers and passengers in the front and back seats to wear seatbelts. Fines start at a minimum of $92 for a first offense.
For more information about traveling this holiday season safely, please visit nhtsa.gov.