In an effort to increase motorist safety, the Village of Hempstead announced today it will participate in the annual Buckle Up New York, Click it or Ticket Campaign. The program is sponsored by the NYS Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee and is a state-wide effort to increase the safety of all motorists and passengers.
During the two-week campaign, beginning Monday, May 21 through Sunday, June 3 Hempstead Village Police will enhance enforcement patrols in an effort to monitor seatbelt usage. Fines will be issued to those not in compliance.
“The evidence clearly shows that wearing seatbelts save lives,” said Mayor Don Ryan. “While statistics show that New Yorkers buckle-up higher than the national average, there’s always room for improvement. It only takes a few seconds to fasten a seatbelt or to secure a child’s safety seat. This campaign is a reminder for motorists and passengers to buckle up every time.”
Under New York state law:
- All front-seat occupants must be properly secured, regardless of age;
- All rear-seat passengers under 16 years of age must be properly secured;
- Children up to the age of 4 must be properly restrained in a federally approved child safety seat that is attached to a vehicle by a seatbelt or universal child restraint anchorage (LATCH) system.
- Children less than age 4 but weighing more than 40 pounds may be restrained in a booster seat with a lap/shoulder safety belt. However, a child safety seat that accommodates higher weights can be used.
- Children ages 4-7 must be properly secured in an appropriate child restraint system, one for which the child meets the height and weight recommendations of the child restraint manufacturer.
- A vehicle’s safety belt is not a child restraint system.
- Children riding in booster seats must be secured with a combination lap/shoulder seatbelt. A child should never be secured in a booster seat with only a lap belt).
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that seatbelts saved 13,941 lives in 2015 nationally and could have saved another 2,804 if people who weren’t wearing them had done so. In New York, NHTSA estimates seatbelts saved 443 lives in 2015 and another seven children under age 5 were saved by car seats. The NHTSA also estimated another 55 lives could have been saved with 100 percent compliance.