Sevierville Police Department urges people to use seatbelt during "Click it or Ticket" campaign

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - An unbelted driver in Tennessee is 54 times more likely to die in a crash than someone who was buckled, according to the Tennessee Highway Safety Office.

Driving without a seatbelt is deadly, and police in Sevierville said they are watching extra closely for people who aren’t following the law and buckling up during the “Click It or Ticket” campaign.

Sgt. Caleb Brien said clicking his seat belt is the first thing he does when gets in the car.

As a traffic enforcement officer, he said he’s heard all the excuses of why others don’t.

“They’re in a rush, or most people say that, ‘I know that I should have had it on.’ But you know, we want to take this time to remind folks when we have those encounters that we need to have the seatbelts on,” said Brien.

Police said last year seat belt usage was at 91% across the entire country. They want to use this campaign to target the last 9% on how important it is to wear a seatbelt.

“What we want to do nationally and locally within our communities is get that message out there that the usage of seatbelts while you’re on the roadways is the safest means to travel,” said Brien.

Increased patrols will be on the streets in Sevierville as part of this nationwide campaign. Brien said they will also be looking for child restraints and properly installed car seats.

“Car seats not properly installed, children are not properly harnessed in their car seats and we want to take this time to also remind parents and folks to make sure that children are secured properly in their car seats,” he added.

Brien said this is not about writing tickets, but getting the message across that statistics show seatbelts do save lives.

“We want to close the gap on that 9% nationally and you know, I think this campaign is an awesome time to get the message out through the media and with these encounters that we have in public,” said Brien.

The campaign runs through June 4. For more information, visit the Tennessee Highway Safety Office’s website.

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