x
Breaking News
More () »

How many Maine drivers do not buckle up

In 2016, of the 119 fatalities in crashes on Maine roads, only 47 percent of those fatalities were known to be wearing seatbelts, according to NHTSA.

(NEWS CENTER Maine) -- Police all over Maine plan to emphasize patrols checking for seatbelt use over Memorial Day Weekend as thousands of tourists are expected to visit the state.

The latest statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that an observed 14 percent of Maine drivers do not wear their seatbelt (Source: NHTSA).

In 2016, of the 119 fatalities in crashes on Maine roads (involving people five years old or older) reported by NHTSA, 61 people were not wearing seatbelts. Only 47 percent of those fatalities were known to be wearing seatbelts. In three deaths, police could not determine if the person killed was wearing a seatbelt.

SEE THE FULL CRASH STATS ► NHTSA Crash data

Police in New England are enforcing the "Click It or Ticket" campaign as they do annually around the Memorial Day Weekend, funded in part by grants from the federal government. Officers say crashes are more likely with the extra thousands of cars in the state of Maine over the holiday weekend.

"There's that much more people on the road. There's that many more incidents or crashes that could happen," said Wells Police patrolman Officer Kevin Schoff.

Officer Schoff performs the detail, and said on one recent occasion, he encountered at least six drivers who were not wearing a seatbelt and had ignored the multiple notices about it.

Everyone has a decision that they want to make. If they decide they don't want to wear their seatbelt, there are consequences that come behind that," said Officer Schoff.

In 2016, NHTSA reported that just 55 percent of people who were killed while sitting in the front seat of a car while driving were wearing seatbelts.

Source: NHTSA

Over the last ten years, an average of 47 percent of people were not buckled in when they died.

Mel Burgess, who lives in Naples, says he never forgets to buckle up, after he was thrown from a car in a crash decades ago before cars had seatbelts.

"I was lucky to survive," said Burgess. "It's an automatic response to click it. It could save lives."

Money from paid citations during the Click It or Ticket campaign goes to the state, not the town, according to Officer Schoff.

Before You Leave, Check This Out