GREENVILLE – The Greenville Police Department will join local and national law enforcement officers and highway safety advocates all across the country for the 2019 national Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization, May 20-June 2.

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

We’re all excited about the potential for automated vehicles to help prevent crashes and save lives. They promise a far safer future on our roads. But what about safer driving today? 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.

You 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.

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 your first line of defense in a crash and your 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 you on the road unbuckled anytime or anywhere, you can expect to get a ticket — not a warning. No excuses and no exceptions,” said Chief Strick.

While this year’s Click It or Ticket enforcement mobilization runs through June 2, 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.