The national “Click It or Ticket” enforcement wave will be taking place from Nov. 23 to 30, 2015.
The Darien Police Department will be joining with hundreds of other law enforcement agencies across the country in renewing a pledge to save lives by intensifying efforts to enforce seatbelt laws among all motorists.
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— An announcement from Darien Police Department
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The current fine for adults who are not wearing a seatbelt while traveling in a vehicle is $92. All front seat passengers are required to wear seatbelts while traveling. Passengers over 18 years old who are sitting in the rear seat of a vehicle are not required to wear a seatbelt unless the operator is under 18 years old.
All passengers under 18 years old are required to wear seatbelts, even passengers who are sitting in the rear seat of a vehicle; the current seatbelt fine for persons 16 years old and less than 18 years old is $120.
An operator transporting any passengers who are under 16 years old is responsible for ensuring that their passengers are properly seat belted, and it would be the operator who is cited for any of these seatbelt violations.
Connecticut state law also requires that children under 1 year old and less than 20 pounds must be secured in a rear facing child safety seat, this violation carries a $92 fine.
Passengers over 1 year old, less than 7 years old, and who weigh less than 60 pounds are required to be secured in a child safety seat or booster seat; this violation carries a $92 fine. Once a child is over 7 years old and weighs more than 60 pounds, that child could be seat belted in a regular passenger seat.
The No. 1 cause of death for children and teens in the United States is traffic crashes! Statistics show an average of 1 fatality every 14 minutes and 1 injury every 13 seconds due to car crashes in this country.
Statistics also show that vehicle passengers have a 77 percentchance of surviving a fatal car crash if they are properly seat belted. The current seatbelt usage rate in the State of Connecticut is 88 percent; the national average for seatbelt usage is 84 percent.
Buckle Up, the life that is saved may be yours, or your child’s!