GREENVILLE – The Greenville Police Department will join local and national law enforcement officers and highway safety advocates all across the country for the 2018 national Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization May 21-June 3.

During the mobilization, officers will be cracking down on motorists who fail to wear their seat belts – both day and night.

There are loads of new safety features that help make crashes avoidable and more survivable. But there’s one technology in today’s cars and trucks that is central to safe driving: the seat belt.

People might not think of seat belts as a safety technology, but they’re the foundation of safer driving. In 2015 alone, seat belts saved 13,941 lives. However, 2,804 additional lives could have been saved if everyone had buckled up. That’s why NHTSA remains committed to convincing every American to always buckle up.

Thanks to a combination of the enforcement of seat belt laws and public awareness campaigns, seat belt use reached a record high of 90 percent in 2016, up from about 83 percent a decade ago. That’s progress—but it also means that every day, millions of people needlessly put their lives at risk because they don’t buckle up.

The annual Click It or Ticket national mobilization is one of the best tools for increasing awareness and belt use. This year, it starts on May 21 with advertising that explains the importance of wearing seat belts and the dangers of not buckling up. If you don’t heed the warnings and obey the law, they will be backed up by law enforcement who will make a special effort to hand out tickets for failing to buckle up between May 21 and June 3.

Seat belts are the single most effective safety technology in the history of the automobile. A NHTSA study of lives saved by vehicle technologies found that, between 1960 and 2012, seat belts saved more lives—329,715, to be exact—than all other vehicle technologies combined, including air bags, energy-absorbing steering assemblies and electronic stability control. Of course, seat belts have been available much longer than many of the other safety features the study reviewed. But they remain the first line of defense in a crash and the first step toward safer driving.

Law enforcement will be cracking down on Click It or Ticket violators around the clock. Local motorists should be prepared to buckle up. If law enforcement finds motorists on the road unbuckled anytime or anywhere, they can expect to get a ticket — not a warning. No excuses and no exceptions,” Chief Steve Strick said.

While this year’s Click It or Ticket enforcement mobilization runs through June 3, officers and troopers will continue their zero tolerance policy year-round when motorists are stopped for other violations and are found to not be wearing their safety belt.

More than 900 law enforcement partners around Ohio, including the Ohio State Highway Patrol, will aggressively enforce the law during the mobilization, which runs May 21-June 3.

“It’s simple – safety belts save lives and reduce injury in crashes,” said John Born, director of Ohio Department of Public Safety. “It is the easiest thing you can do to protect yourself, your family and your friends.”