PANAMA CITY — Police are offering motorists an easy choice during the holiday season — protect your passengers or pay a fine.
The Panama City Police Department’s Thanksgiving “Click It or Ticket” campaign is one of many initiatives taken throughout the year to encourage people to fasten themselves into the metal and fiberglass vehicles being driven long distances at high rates of speed. They’re doing it because more people on the road means the chances for human error to bring another metal and fiberglass vehicle toward your own is heightened.
“The goal is to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries,” said PCPD spokesman Richard Thore. “You should always be wearing your seat belt, but during holidays, which have the highest travel rate, the chances of being in an accident increases greatly.”
The Thanksgiving “Click It or Ticket” campaign began Monday and will continue through Nov. 30 with local law enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol keeping keenly aware of the driving public’s seat belt situation.
The “Click It or Ticket” campaign is one of many ways PCPD, along with the Florida Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, strive to keep motor vehicle occupants safe, officials said.
Police also increase seat belt observance the weeks of Christmas, New Year’s and Spring Break along the Panhandle.
“There is a direct correlation between seat belt usage and reduced risk for severe or fatal injury during a traffic crash,” Thore said. “It’s a big reminder that there is safety in a seat belt.”