Lee County will be participating in the nationwide law enforcement initiative
called "click it or
ticket." The initiative provides heightened enforcement of the seatbelt
laws and is also designed to educate motorists on the dangers of driving
without a seat belt. The campaign starts locally May 23, 2011 and will
continue on through Memorial Day weekend until June 3, 2011. Mandatory safety
belt laws have been sprouting up all over the United States in recent
years. Here in Florida wearing your seat belt has been a law for many
years, but it was never enforced by law enforcement until recently. In
June of 2009 the State of Florida made it a traffic infraction to not
be wearing your seat belt. An officer can pull you over for not wearing
your seat belt. In other words, you can be driving the speed limit and
not commit any of the normal traffic infractions and yet still get pulled
over for not wearing a seat belt. In fact, your passenger, if he or she
is not wearing a seat belt, will also be cited. Of course these campaigns
have good intentions, but it's interesting to determine if this enforcement
of the seatbelt law has truly increased the number of motorists who wear
seatbelts.
