FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 20, 2000

CONTACT: SID GAULDEN, 803-896-8755

"CLICK IT OR TICKET," TO GET SOUTH CAROLINA BUCKLED UP

COLUMBIA – Gov. Jim Hodges and South Carolina Department of Public Safety Director Boykin Rose led the kickoff today of the largest non-emergency law enforcement mobilization effort in state history. State and local law enforcement will team up to conduct more than 2,000 checkpoints from today until December 3.

The State Law Enforcement Division, Probation, Parole and Pardon Services and Department of Natural Resources and nearly 250 local agencies have joined DPS in conducting daily checkpoints in every county.

"I hope this teamwork among our state’s various law enforcement components shows that law enforcement is united in its effort to save lives," Gov. Jim Hodges said. "The weeks surrounding the Thanksgiving holidays are some of the heaviest travel days of the year. We hope Click It or Ticket will remind motorists to buckle up and drive safely throughout the holidays and beyond."

The National Safety Council awarded South Carolina $500,000 to fund a paid media component of the Click It or Ticket program. Several other states have had outstanding success with similar Click It or Ticket campaigns. North Carolina saw a 16 percent jump in usage rates after Click It or Ticket in 1993 and a significant decrease in highway deaths and serious injuries. The state of Michigan saw usage rates jump by nearly 13 percentage points. South Carolina is the first state with a secondary enforcement law to run this campaign.

"Our goal is to increase our usage rate from its current 65 percent by 10 percentage points to 75 percent," said DPS Director B. Boykin Rose. "That translates into 79 lives saved and the prevention of 1,261 injuries. We are doing everything within our power to get South Carolinians buckled up."

Failure to buckle up contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic-safety related behavior. Increasing seat belt use is the most effective and immediate way to save lives and reduce injuries on our roads. Proper use of seat belts reduces the risk of fatal injury by 45 percent and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent. South Carolina has the third highest highway fatality rate in the nation.

Please log on to the DPS web site, www.scdps.org, for checkpoint locations and checkpoint results throughout the campaign.

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