West Hartford Police Announce Checkpoints

The West Hartford Police Department has announced that several checkpoints will be conducted as part of the statewide Click It or Ticket campaign which is now underway.

Scheduled seat belt and child safety seat checkpoints in West Hartford will be:

• Wed., June 1, 3:30-7:30 p.m., New Britain Ave.
• Fri., June 3, 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m, Albany Ave.

The purpose of the Click It or Ticket campaign is to increase safety on roads and highways by increasing awareness of the fact that proper use of seat belts and child safety seats saves lives. Law enforcement officials will be aggressively enforcing these laws, as well as speed limits and DUI laws, and they remind motorists to use "good highway safety sense, especially during the highly traveled summer months."

The following statistics were provided in a release from the West Hartford Police Department: "Ejection from the vehicle is one of the most injurious events that can happen to a person in a crash. In fatal crashes, 75 percent of passenger car occupants who were totally ejected from the vehicle were killed. Safety belts are effective in preventing total ejection: only one percent of the occupants wearing a seat belt were totally ejected, compared with 22 percent of the unrestrained occupants."

The West Hartford Police Department states that the goal of Click It or Ticket is "not to give out tickets, but rather to influence people to buckle up and prevent injuries and fatalities."