Grant affords Carson City deputies increase in traffic enforcement

Carson City deputies will be working overtime enforcing seat belt use, thanks to a grant from the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety.

Beginning May 23 through June 6, deputies will be scouring the roads as part of the National Click It or Ticket Safety Belt Enforcement campaign.

The Carson City officers on overtime will be paid with money from the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety.

If caught without a seat belt, motorists will be issued a citation for $67. If passengers are caught unrestrained, they get the ticket. But if anyone in the car under 18 is without a restraint, the driver is cited for $107.

The goal of the effort is to boost the state's safety belt use rate and reduce fatalities.

According to statistics from the Nevada Department of Public Safety, from 1999 to 2004 1,301 motorists were killed on Nevada roads. Of those, 792 were not wearing seat belts.

Half of those would have survived if they had been wearing their seat belts. Approximately 8,000 Americans - adults and children - will die in crashes this year because they failed to buckle up.

Vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death among young people and are the number one cause of job related deaths, according to the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety.

- Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.