EAST BRIDGEWATER — Chief Paul O’Brien and the East Bridgewater Police Department are pleased to report that the department has once again been awarded a grant from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security’s Office of Grants and Research (OGR) to increase the number of patrols and to remind drivers and passengers about the lifesaving benefits of wearing a seat belt.
East Bridgewater police will join other departments across the state and the Massachusetts State Police in the national Click It or Ticket enforcement campaign, which will run through the entire month of May.
“The lack of seatbelt use in Massachusetts is claiming many lives on our roadways, which is why it is so important for our department and for departments across the state to put our energies and enforcement time towards educating the public on the benefits of using safety systems properly,” Chief O’Brien said.
Important Data
- Massachusetts’ seat belt use rate is consistently lower than the national average, ranking 45th in the 2019 seat belt observational study. At 81.6% use, over 1.2 million Bay Staters still are not regularly buckling up. The national seat belt use rate is 90.7% (2019).
- In Massachusetts, a larger percentage of pickup truck (71%) and SUV (65%) fatalities are unrestrained compared to passenger cars (60%).
- According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seat belts saved an estimated 61 lives in Massachusetts in 2018.
- 68% of nighttime fatalities are unrestrained in Massachusetts compared to 55% of unrestrained daytime fatalities.
For more information on the Click It or Ticket campaign, visit the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website here.
###
