Nearly 1,600 traffic tickets were issued during the state’s “click it or ticket” campaign last week — 90 of them for unbuckled children, the Colorado Department of Transportation said Wednesday.
The campaign from March 28 to April 2 included the 14 posts of the Colorado State Patrol and 33 law enforcement agencies across rural parts of the state, CDOT said.
State troopers issued the most citations, 1,076, while police in Ft. Lupton issued the next highest with 66. Arapahoe County sheriff’s deputies issued 51 tickets and the Frisco Police Department issued 49.
In all, police issued 1,593 tickets, of which 90 were to drivers who had an unbuckled child in the vehicle.
“In the event of a serious traffic accident, a person is 30 percent more likely to be ejected if they are not wearing a seat belt,” said Darrell Lingk, CDOT’s director of transportation safety.
An estimated 63 Coloradan’s lives could have been saved in 2014 if they had been properly restrained, CDOT said.
“Buckling a seat belt should be the first thing people do when they get into a car,” State Police Chief Col. Scott Hernandez said in a statement. “I hope the people cited during this enforcement will be more aware and buckle up in the future.”
The next enforcement campaign is scheduled to run from May 23 to June 5.
David Migoya: 303-954-1506, dmigoya@denverpost.com or @davidmigoya
