By Staff
Staff Reports
This weekend is Memorial Day weekend and Alabama sheriffs will be enforcing the "Click-it or Ticket" (CIOT) policy in an effort to allow more motorists to buckle-up for safety.
In Escambia County, all municipal police departments and Tribal Police will ban together on Saturday, May 28, to make motorists aware that if you don't click it, you will receive a ticket.
If you are planning to travel outside the county, troopers and local officers also will hold checkpoints in connection with the CIOT policy May 23 to June 5, as well as May 27-30 and All American Buckle Up Week, May 23-30.
According to Coppage, despite gains in safety belt usage rates statewide, more than half of vehicle occupants killed in rural crashes in Alabama this year were not using safety restraints.
According to The Department of Public Safety, at least 17 people may die as the result of traffic crashes in Alabama during the 78-hour Memorial Day holiday travel period beginning Friday, May 27, at 6 p.m. and ending at midnight Monday, May 30.
Last year 17 people died in traffic crashes in the state during the 78-hour holiday period. At least six of these fatalities involved alcohol, and seven of those killed were not buckled up. Fifteen of the deaths resulted from crashes on the state's rural roads, and two of the fatal crashes occurred in urban locations.