Law Enforcement Will Show Zero Tolerance

Buffalo, NY – Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard is reminding motorists to Click It or Ticket. The Sheriff’s Office is participating in the annual the national seat belt enforcement campaign – Click it or Ticket.  The campaign started May 22 and will last through June 4.

“People have a better chance of surviving a random lighting strike than surviving a head-on crash if they are not buckled in,” said Sheriff Howard.  “And with the Memorial Day weekend just ahead of us, then the summer vacation season starting, I want to urge everyone to ‘Click It’ and do it every day.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seat belts are the single most effective safety technology in the history of the automobile and an NHTSA study found that, between 1960 and 2012, seat belts saved nearly 330,000 lives.

Erie County Sheriff’s Deputies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night with dedicated patrols and the possibility of road check sites throughout the county.  The maximum penalty for a seat belt violation in New York is $150 for the first offense.

Sheriff Howard states, “Seat belts save lives and my agency’s goal is to educate drivers and enforce the law to achieve compliance; that’s how we can save lives.”