MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- The military police aboard the Station have been keeping an eye on passengers and drivers not wearing their seat belts.
The Click It or Ticket Campaign, which began May 24, is done two times a year; in the spring and again during the winter. More than 13,000 law enforcement agencies and approximately $30 million are spent in support of the program nationwide.
According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the strategy used in the campaign is called “high-visibility enforcement.”
“We publicize what we are doing and then back it up,” said Sgt. Ryan Wilkinson, Provost Marshal’s Office accident investigators division chief. “For the two weeks of the campaign we will be targeting people not wearing seat belts. Usually it depends on the military policeman if he wants to give a ticket or just a warning. But now it will be an automatic ticket if you are not wearing a seat belt.”
Checkpoints will be set-up around the Station to emphasize the seriousness, said Wilkinson.
“We will be profiling unbelted drivers in areas where it is common to not strap up,” said Wilkinson. “The whole intent of it is if they see other people getting tickets, then it’ll make others want to strap up.”
Drivers and front passengers usually are good about wearing their seat belts, added Wilkinson.
“We have a bigger problem with the passengers in the back seats,” said Wilkinson. “I have seen kids running around. If a car is stopped for the driver and passengers not wearing their seat belt, it is important that the driver knows he will be the one held responsible.”
According to the NHTSA, since the “Click It or Ticket It” campaign started in 1997, seat belt usage has risen 33 percent.
Last year, the national “Click It or Ticket” campaign increased seat belt usage four percent to 79 percent.