Click It or Ticket Campaign

NEWS RELEASE

MAY 20, 2022

Click It Or Ticket Campaign Starts May 23

The Sauk County Sheriff’s Office, Baraboo Police Department, Lake Delton Police Department, Reedsburg Police Department, and Sauk Prairie Police Department will join thousands of law enforcement agencies for this year’s Click It or Ticket seat belt campaign, one of the nation’s most important highway safety efforts. From May 23 through June 5, 2022, Sauk County Law Enforcement Agencies will join officers statewide and nationwide, to patrol for longer hours to reinforce one safety message – BUCKLE UP.

The annual campaign coincides with the first summer travel holiday. As more cars are out on the roads during Memorial Day weekend, law enforcement officials are asking everyone to buckle up and stay safe.

 “Our goal is to save lives, not just hand out tickets,” Sheriff Meister said. “Buckling up is one of the easiest and most effective steps you can take to survive a crash. Thousands of lives can be saved each year if everyone commits to wearing a seat belt.”

Currently, 88% of Wisconsin motorists wear safety belts. The 12 percent who fail to buckle up accounted for 50% of all the drivers and passengers killed in Wisconsin traffic crashes in 2021.

Wisconsin’s primary seat belt law, in place since 2009, allows law enforcement to stop and cite motorists for failing to wear a seat belt. Drivers can also be cited for every unbuckled passenger in their vehicle. Penalties are higher for transporting unrestrained children. Failure to fasten a seat belt is among the most common traffic violations in Wisconsin.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2019, 55% of passenger vehicle occupants killed at night (6 p.m.–5:59 a.m.) were not wearing their seat belts. As a result of these statistics, one focus of the Click It or Ticket campaign is nighttime enforcement.

Sauk County Law Enforcement officials want to remind you wearing a seat belt is not only the law, it can save your life. If you know a friend or a family member who does not wear a seat belt when they drive, please ask them to consider changing their habits. Help us spread this lifesaving message before one more friend or family member is killed as a result of this simple inaction.

For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.

Chip Meister

Sauk County Sheriff