By Charles Lane

The Somerville Police Department has joined the 2017 Click It or Ticket Campaign and will begin enforcing seat belt use as part of the national awareness to spread the importance of buckling up.

The SPD aims to mobilize specific traffic units to increase the maximum visibility of seat belt enforcement in the Somerville area.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) there is at least 1 fatality as a result of a crash every 15 minutes. In Massachusetts, the NHTSA conducted a study that showed that the seat belt use rate was at 74.1% in 2015, the second lowest rate nationwide to that of South Dakota at 73%.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that nearly half of the 22,441 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2015 were unrestrained. At night, between the times from 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., that number soared to 57 percent of those killed.

That is why one focus of the Click It or Ticket campaign is nighttime enforcement. For this reason, the Somerville Police and other police departments nationwide will join together to crack down on seat belt violations.

The SPD also asks residents to encourage others to use their seat belts. Help the Somerville Police Department spread this life-saving message before one more friend or family member is killed as a result of this senseless inaction.

Seat belts save lives, and everyone – child and adult – needs to remember to buckle up every time.

The Somerville Police Department will continue to enforce this law and count on community support for driver safety because “in real life, you don’t get a second chance.”