Driving without seatbelts, teenage parties targeted by agencies

Law enforcement agencies are launching dual efforts to crack down on teenage parties and on driving without seatbelts.

From Monday, May 24 to Saturday, June 6, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office is joining a Click It or Ticket campaign, according to a sheriff's press release.

“Local motorists should be prepared for stepped up Click It or Ticket activities that will take place around the clock," said Chief Deputy Kevin J. Joyce. If law enforcement finds you on the road unbuckled anytime or anywhere, you can expect to get a ticket — not a warning. No excuses and no exceptions.”

Today at 10 a.m., the Cumberland County Underage Drinking Enforcement Task Force will hold a press conference on a second initiative — distribution of "Party Patrol Kits," according to a press release from the Maine Environmental Substance Abuse Prevention Center (www.mcd.org/MESAP.asp).

Every law enforcement agency in Cumberland County will be equipped with "Party Patrol Kits" to respond to the scene of an underage drinking party, the center reported. There will be a press conference to display the contents of these kits, hear from the representatives of the Cumberland County Underage Drinking Enforcement Task Force on their use of these kits, and the
opportunity for questions and answers from representatives of law enforcement in the county. The press conference will take place at the Portland Police Department auditorium.

In both the seatbelt campaign and the "Patry Patrol Kits" effort, law enforcement agencies cited statistics to support the need for increased enforcement.

“We know more than ever about the risks associated with underage drinking — such as drowning, accidental falls, suicides and homicides," Jo Morrissey, chair of the Cumberland County Underage Drinking Enforcement Task Force, said in the press release about the "Party Patrol Kits" distribution. "In fact, over 2/3 of underage drinking deaths have nothing to do with automobiles. Besides mortality, young drinkers also risk sexual assault, violence, vandalism, bodily injury and damage to the developing brain.”

In its Click It or Ticket press release, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office cited federal statistics to support enhanced seat belt enforcement.

in 2008, 12,671 passenger vehicle occupants died in motor vehicle crashes nationwide between the nighttime hours of 6 p.m. and 5:59 a.m., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of those who died were not wearing their seat belts at the time of the crashes, compared to less than half (45 percent) of the passenger vehicle occupants killed during the daytime hours of 6 a.m. to 5:59 p.m., the sheriff's office noted.

"High-visibility enforcement such as the Click It or Ticket mobilization is credited with increasing the national belt usage rate from 58 percent in 1994 to an observed usage rate of 84 percent in 2009," the sheriff's office reported. "And belt use saves thousands of lives each year across America. In 2008 alone, seat belts saved 13,250 lives nationwide."

For more information on Click It or Ticket, visit www.cumberlandso.org.

For more information on the "Patry Patrol Kits" effort, visit www.21reasons.org.