Posted on: Saturday, June 18, 2005
More people Click It, fewer get Ticket in 2005 campaign
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Police citations for seatbelt violations dropped 22 percent during the recent Click It or Ticket campaign, another sign that Hawai'i drivers are buckling up at record rates.
Seatbelt citations issued statewide:
2005: 2,483 2004: 3,169 2003: 3,598 2002: 4,734 Child safety seat violations:
2005: 62 2004: 97 "With the number of seatbelt tickets issued going down each year, hopefully drivers are getting the safety message," state Transportation Director Rod Haraga said.
One factor in this year's decline might have been a new law that costs violators $92, said Haraga, who ordered all the state's electric traffic signs during the campaign to publicize the higher cost of not buckling up. Under the old law, violators paid $77 in fines and fees.
The willingness to buckle up could earn the state millions more dollars in federal aid, he said.
Last year, the seatbelt use in the state was 95.1 percent, second in the nation behind only Arizona.
If a current survey finds Hawai'i's seatbelt use is above 95 percent again this year, the state will be eligible for an extra $3.9 million over two years in federal safety money.
The money could be used for programs beyond seatbelts, including pedestrian safety, drunken driving and speeding enforcement.
In the latest campaign, police also issued 62 tickets statewide for child safety seat violations, down from 97 in 2004. "It's really not about the number of citations given out, but how many lives are potentially saved in an accident by buckling up," Haraga said.
Officers in four counties issued 2,483 seatbelt citations in the two weeks from May 23 to June 5. That compares with 3,169 seatbelt tickets in the same two weeks last year.
Fewer tickets
