The Stow Police are working with the State of Ohio to raise awareness for the national Click It or Ticket mobilization which is running from May 18 to the 31.

The Click It or Ticket campaign is to encourage and remind people the importance to wear their seat belts. Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death among those aged 1-54 in the U.S. The Click It or Ticket campaign is an effort to decrease the deaths caused by the crashes.

Though the campaign is being enforced both day and night, the mobilization is being enforced more on the night time violators between the hours of 6 p.m. and 5:59 a.m. The night enforcement is due to the lack of clicking it less during the night and more during the day. More crashes and violators are found during the night due to the lack of light and ignorance of officers on the road during the late hours.

According to CDC.gov, during the 2015 campaign, law enforcement agencies across the nation will conduct intensive, high visibility enforcement of seatbelt laws during both daytime and nighttime hours. Using seat belts can save lives as using a regular seat belt can reduce fatal injury by 50 %.

Though not wearing a seat belt is not a primary offense, officers are able to ticket someone pulled over for another offense for not wearing a seatbelt. During the campaign, officers will be on higher alert for violators not wearing their seatbelt, and it will continue after the effort ends.

Officer Smith said, “There is a big gain from a simple three second action, we always assume it’s not going to happen to us, but crashes happen every day in the state of Ohio, the assumption should always be made that it might happen to you, it only takes a short amount of time to snap your seatbelt. It becomes a habit.”