With Memorial Day weekend and the summer travel season approaching, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) are urging drivers to keep traffic safety top of mind when behind the wheel. The agencies will work with municipal police departments and other safety partners across the commonwealth to participate in the national “Click It or Ticket” seat belt education and enforcement initiative from May 17 through June 6, 2021.

“‘Click it or Ticket’ isn’t about citations, it’s about saving lives,” said PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian. “Buckling up is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones in a crash.”

Pennsylvania law requires any occupant younger than 18 to buckle up when riding in a vehicle, as well as drivers and front-seat passengers. Children under the age of two must be secured in a rear-facing car seat, and children under the age of four must be restrained in an approved child safety seat. Children must ride in a booster seat until their eighth birthday.

In addition to adopting a zero-tolerance approach toward violators, troopers certified as child passenger safety technicians will offer car seat fittings and inspections throughout Pennsylvania, helping ensure that car seats are in good working condition, installed properly, and free from recalls.

“State police child passenger safety technicians look forward to hosting dozens of events across the commonwealth to highlight child passenger safety,” said Major Robert Krol, director of the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Patrol. “We hope everyone who drives with children in their vehicles will take advantage of this free resource to keep their youngest passengers safe while traveling.”

A complete list of child passenger seat fitting stations is available at psp.pa.gov.

As part of the enforcement efforts, state and local police, along with agencies across the United States, will participate in a one day Border-to-Border initiative on May 24 to provide increased seat belt enforcement at state borders, reinforcing the states’ focus on safety.

PennDOT data shows there were 11,265 crashes in 2020 where at least one occupant was not wearing a seat belt, resulting in 348 fatalities.

As the summer driving period kicks off, we encourage Pennsylvanians to “Know Before You Go” by checking conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles in Pennsylvania by visiting www.511PA.com. The service, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras. Motorists can also see active construction projects at www.511PA.com.

For more information on seat belt safety visit, www.PennDOT.gov/Safety.

PennDOT’s media center offers resources for safety organizations, community groups, or others who share safety information with their stakeholders. Social-media-sized graphics highlighting topics such as seat belts, impaired driving and distracted driving can be found online at www.PennDOT.gov in the “Media Center” under the “About Us” footer. Follow PennDOT on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PennDOTNews, like the department on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PennsylvaniaDepartmentofTransportation and Instagram at www.instagram.com/pennsylvaniadot.