Click It or Ticket kicks off summer with youth contest

Oftentimes parents are expected to teach their children the ways of the world, the things they should do to be successful and safe.

Yet there are times when children have the chance to impact their parents’ lives and take home an important message they can share with their family that can be of the utmost importance.

Wayne and Holmes County Safe Communities, a grant program of Anazao Community Partners, announced its kick-off of the National Click It or Ticket Campaign in Wayne County at Green Elementary School on Thursday, May 20 and in Holmes County on Friday, May 21 at Lakeville Elementary and Millersburg Elementary.

While the event was designed for children, it provided an opportunity not only to promote the need to use seat belts, but also it gave students a chance to take that message home and share it with their parents and siblings.

“It’s really important to start the kids young on learning the importance of buckling up,” said Beth McCready, Wayne and Holmes County Safe Communities coordinator at Anazao Community Partners. “We encourage parents to set that example for their children whenever they get into a car. The first thing children need to get used to is buckling up for safety. We are stressing that seat belts are important at every age.”

“This message is critical for our parents to understand,” Ohio State Patrol trooper Cary Wenger said. “If they see their parents growing up wearing seat belts, it will be ingrained in them and become a habit that they will carry with them the rest of their lives. I always remind parents these kids will do what they do. I think this message is a great one for kids to take home to their parents just as a reminder.”

Wayne and Holmes Safe Communities Coalitions, together with the Ohio Highway Patrol, Wayne and Holmes sheriff’s departments, and school resource officers, took this time to remind everyone as they are planning their first summer get-away over the Memorial Day weekend to remember to buckle up. The National Click It or Ticket Campaign is enforced May 17 through June 6.

The National Transportation and Safety Administration said one of the safest choices drivers and passengers can make is to buckle up. Many Americans understand the life-saving value of the seat belt. The national usage rate was at 90.7% in 2019. Seat-belt use in passenger vehicles saved an estimated 15,000 lives in 2017.

In Wayne County the estimated seat-belt usage is at 96.2%, and in Holmes County it is at 97.2%. Unfortunately, Wayne and Holmes Safe Communities Coalitions have seen an increase in those involved in serious or fatal accidents not wearing their seat belts.

“We continue to see serious injuries and fatalities in Wayne and Holmes counties. So far in 2021, Wayne County has seen five fatalities due to crashes, and four of those fatalities were not wearing seat belts. In Holmes County there have already been two fatal crashes with one not wearing a seat belt. And even one life is too many.”

To kick off the Click It or Ticket Campaign, Safe Communities went to elementary schools throughout Wayne and Holmes counties and held a banner drawing contest to promote the importance of buckling up for safety.

Safe Communities recently recognized the winners of the 2021 Click It or Ticket banner contest that was sponsored by the Fraternal Order of Police. In Wayne County it was a clean sweep for Green Elementary. First place went to Maci Eggeman (fourth grade), second to Savannah Ceriani (fifth grade) and third to Logan Duell (third grade).

In Holmes County first place went to Codi Murphy, a fourth-grader at Millersburg Elementary; second was earned by Penelope Beachy, a third-grader at Millersburg Elementary; and third went to Jimmy Wengerd, a fifth-grader at Lakeville Elementary.

The first-place winners of the banner contest will have their design made into a banner that will be printed and displayed at the Wayne and Holmes fairs, respectively.

Along with the annual Click It or Ticket banner contest, Wayne and Holmes Safe Communities facilitated safety challenges along with Western Reserve Group volunteers and school resource officers at the area high schools of Smithville, Northwestern, Norwayne, West Holmes, Wayne County Schools Career Center and Triway.

The challenges were timed, and groups of four students completed a course that encouraged the use of seat belts and the prevention of distracted and impaired driving.

The safety challenges were sponsored by the Western Reserve Group, and plaques will be presented to Triway High School in Wayne County and West Holmes High School for having the team with the fastest time in the challenges from within the two respective counties.

Wayne and Holmes Counties Safe Communities is funded by USDOT/NHTSA and the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

For further information about Safe Communities, email McCready at mccreadyb@anazaocommunitypartners.org or call her at 330-264-9597.