Click it or ticket

STATE - Fastening seatbelts may be awkward, especially after a big meal, but it can save not only your life and limb. Nowadays, they can also save a person some serious money.

According to State Police Lieutenant Walter Grzyb, commander of Troop B, in Gray, the state police are enthusiastically taking part in the annual "Click It Or Ticket" campaign of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that starts November 15 to 28. There will be checkpoints and special details of officers looking specifically for seatbelt scofflaws. For more than a year, now, the police can stop a vehicle because it looks as if the driver is not "clicked in." Now that shoulder belts are standard, it's often not hard for an officer to see that a driver is, or is not "clicked in."                                   

Officers are not limited to just warning drivers they catch unbelted. The first summons for failure to fasten a seatbelt is $70. The second offense can cost $160, and the third, or more, will each set the repeat offender back $310.     

Locally, only the State Police are taking part in the annual campaign.

"Oh, we don't jump up our enforcement of the seatbelt law for the campaign," said Oxford County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Dane Tripp. "We do that all the time - all year long."