Don’t Get A Ticket! Buckle Up Avon!
The Avon Police Department is participating in a Click it or Ticket Campaign, May 11 – May 31, 2015

For Immediate Release | May 8, 2015
Contact: Chief Robert L. Ticer | (970)-748-4040

Avon, CO—Avoid being pulled over Avon. Make sure you wear your seat belt! Avon Police Department will be participating in a three week Click-It-or-Ticket campaign starting May 11 through May 31. During the enforcement period, if drivers are not wearing a seat belt, they will get a ticket; Avon Police will not be issuing warnings. Avon and Colorado law requires all drivers as well as front seat occupants to wear seat belts. The minimum fine is $65 per violation. The driver is also responsible for properly restraining young passengers in the front and back seats. The minimum fine for violating the state's child-passenger safety law is $82.

Avon Police Department received a grant from the Nation Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to participate in the Click-It-or-Ticket program. A requirement of the program is to issue citations to anyone violating seat belt laws. The goal of the program is to increase seat belt use and to save lives. Wearing a seatbelt can decrease your chances of being ejected from a vehicle and increase your chances of surviving a crash. If involved in a collision, an air bag can only protect you if you remain in a vehicle.

“It only takes two seconds to buckle up and that two seconds can change the lives of the ones you love forever. Seat belt use has an impact on everyone in your life. As a mother, I urge you to start the habit of buckling up with your children to keep them safe throughout their lives,” says Amy Nichols, a mother of unrestrained victim killed in a car crash.

Surveys of seat belt usage throughout Avon conducted on May 6, showed 89.75 percent seatbelt usage. Avon Police hope to bring this rate up substantially after the Click-It-or-Ticket campaign. Unlike in other communities, not wearing a seat belt in Avon is a primary violation, meaning that people can get pulled over for not using their seat belts.

Click-it-or-Ticket is a nationwide campaign from the NHTSA. Since the campaign started in Colorado in 2002, seat belt use has increased from 72 percent to 80.9 percent, and unrestrained deaths have declined by 56 percent. Funding for the Click it or Ticket Campaign is provided through a federal grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT).

Please buckle-up, drive safe, and, if you choose to drink, don’t drive!

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