Seat Belt Tickets Peak in Summer, Vigillo Says
Citations for failure to use seat belts have a seasonal component — peaking in the summer and falling in the winter — according to a report from data analysis company Vigillo.
The Portland, Oregon-based vendor to the industry also said Pennsylvania has been the most aggressive state in issuing seat belt tickets to truck drivers. Failure to wear a seat belt is a 7-point violation of the unsafe driving category of the federal Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.
The Vigillo report, released March 6, looked at 24 months of CSA violations from the start of 2013 through the end of 2014.
During that time, Pennsylvania issued more than 10,000 seat belt tickets to truck drivers. No other state topped 6,000.
Vigillo CEO Steve Bryan attributed the result to Pennsylvania receiving a large grant to run a “Click It or Ticket” enforcement campaign.
As for seasonality, the two peak periods were July and August 2013, with more than 6,000 violations per month, and May to September 2014, more than 5,000 violations per month.
The low point Vigillo found was December 2013 through February 2014, with about 3,000 violations per month.
Bryan said most of the violations were issued during roadside inspections where suspect vehicles were pulled over by law enforcement. Others were issued during inspections at fixed sites, such as weigh stations.
