Multimedia:
Click here to see the video
State and national highway officials along with county police are sending a message to drivers this week: Buckle up or pay the price.
As part of the Buckle Up for a Buck campaign, Montgomery County police stationed at two intersections will give $1 to the first 75 drivers seen wearing a seatbelt. Drivers not wearing a seat belt will be given information about the adult seat belt laws and child passenger safety laws, according to police.
Officers were at the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Reedie Drive in Wheaton on Tuesday morning. They will be in the upcounty today.
The Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund and Maryland State Highway Administration are funding this program.
On Thursday, representatives of the Maryland State Highway Administration's Safety Office, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Montgomery County Police held a press conference at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda to kick off a national campaign to increase the use of seat belts. Police officers will be ramping up enforcement of seat belt use, particularly during the nighttime, with checkpoints for the Click It or Ticket campaign.
Maryland has one of the highest safety belt usage rates in the nation at 93.3 percent, but it is estimated that approximately 90 to 100 additional lives could be saved each year if all motorists buckled up on every single trip, according to the State Highway Administration.
One life that might have been saved by a seat belt was that of Ryan Didone, 15, who was not wearing a seat belt and died in a car crash last year. Didone's father, 5th District Capt. Thomas Didone, spoke about the loss of his son at the press conference.
"The Montgomery County Police Department and other agencies throughout Maryland are enforcing Maryland's seat belt laws day and night," County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger, said during the press conference. "With the loss of Ryan, the son of one of our own officers, we've seen the impact of not wearing a seat belt hit close to home. Make no mistake, if you don't wear your seat belt, you will be issued a citation, but more importantly, you risk your own life and the lives of others."
