Click It or Ticket, Trooper Aga Tinker Joins to Talk Seatbelt Safety

Jack Eves: [00:00:00] X101 Always classic. Good morning folks, Jack here in the studio for another edition of Meet Cortland County, and joining me this morning is Public information Officer for the New York State Police Trooper Aga Tinker. Trooper Tinker, always great to see you. How are you this morning?

Aga Tinker: Great. It’s a great day to be here and always great to talk to you and all your listeners.

Jack Eves: Yes. Yes. And can’t believe we’re already moving into the holiday season. Thanksgiving is coming up this Thursday, but a big campaign has kicked off today and that is the click it or ticket campaign. That right.

Aga Tinker: Yeah. We’ll be out high visibility. We’re letting people know that we’re going to be out and making sure that.

You click it, click your seatbelt in. It’s not hard to do. It’s probably the easiest thing that you can do before you get on the road.

Jack Eves: I would say, yeah, it’s the easiest thing you can do. It’s not even gonna be an inconvenience for you. And most cars these days too, they’re gonna keep beeping at you and some even turn off the radio until you put your seatbelt on.

But the main priority as you’ll agree with is. It’s safety.

Aga Tinker: [00:01:00] Yeah. And when you click that seatbelt in, just remember to, it has to be on the right way. It’s most effective being on properly. We see a lot of people that they put their arm over it, so it’s actually kind of just almost sitting on their belly or people strap it behind them.

You’re not wearing your seatbelt, you can still get a ticket. Yeah. So just make sure that you have it on properly because that’s going tokeep you the safest if there’s any type of collision. And also make sure that you put your kids in the proper car seats or boosters. Right. So that they’re not bouncing around in the back of the car.

Jack Eves: Yeah, that’s a good point too. ’cause if you’re wearing your seatbelt, I properly, it’s not gonna be able to do its job correctly in an accident and you could end up injuring yourself worse.

Aga Tinker: Yeah. An airbag just isn’t enough. And we talked about it before we got on air. I recently was driving through Ithaca and an accident had just happened.

No other first responders were there, and a gentleman just left home, minutes had left home and looked down. He’s on 13 and he hits one of the [00:02:00] road signs and then hits a tree dead on.

Jack Eves: Oh, wow.

Aga Tinker: Thankfully he was wearing his seatbelt because that kept him from getting seriously injured.

Jack Eves: It made a big difference of what that crash scene would’ve been.

Aga Tinker: Right. And and another thing, this, this past last weekend we, there was a, an accident on 81 car rolled over and we have unfortunately seen things where people will get ejected out of their vehicle or they become projectiles. They go out the front windshield. This particular case, a rollover.

Unfortunately, the person damaged their car, it’s totaled, but they wore their seatbelt, so they walked away without any scratches.

Jack Eves: And that’s really important, especially with the weather change. ’cause a lot of these accidents are happening when it’s going from that rain to snow. But even the penalties though, for not wearing a seatbelt, if you’re a repeat offender, that penalty will go up. Is that right?

Aga Tinker: Yeah. You’ll, you’ll definitely get, points on your license. I think it’s up to three points on your license. Oh, wow. And then also your insurance sees that, so then your insurance rates go up.

So now you’re paying a ticket, you’re paying court fees, and your [00:03:00] insurance goes up. So that’s additional fees.

Jack Eves: Yes. And so the click air ticket campaign, obviously an increase in patrols all over that. And there’s always that saying, how are they gonna see through the window of my car? State police and other law enforcement agencies, you guys have trained for that too, to spot it, right?

Aga Tinker: Yeah. It’s really not hard to see, not gonna give away my secrets. Yes. I think everyone has their, their own way of seeing, but yeah, it’s not, it’s not hard to see through. Through the, the windshield to see if whether, someone’s wearing one, especially some of the bigger semi-truck they have the bright orange seat belt, so you can’t miss those.

But, yeah, in the cards it’s, it’s not hard and it’s a big deal. Seat belts reduce the risk of injury of, or death in a crash by 20%.

Jack Eves: Wow.

Aga Tinker: 20% is still, you don’t wanna be part of that 20%. And I even see that in New York state, they have an average of 200 New Yorkers every year that are dying because they just didn’t buckle up.

Just don’t be one of those statistics. Yeah. Simple as that.

Jack Eves: One of those statistics, it’s also the old saying too, don’t become a [00:04:00] backseat bullet. ’cause if in a crash, if your backseat passenger is not wearing a seatbelt, they’re gonna get. Pushed forward from the impact of the crash and possibly injuring those in the front seat.

But it’s also a good reminder too. In New York State, everyone in the vehicle is now required to wear a seatbelt no matter age, correct?

Aga Tinker: Yes. Everyone has to wear a seatbelt, and we notice that too sometimes, especially when we’re patrolling near the Pennsylvania line. They don’t have that law that I know of right now where you have to wear them in the backseat, but everyone in New York state has to have their seat belts on and that you can get a ticket as a passenger for not wearing your seatbelt, but if they’re a certain age, the driver then gets the ticket.

So. Just don’t risk it.

Jack Eves: Just don’t risk it. It takes not even two seconds to put it on and it’s not an inconvenience at all to wear it and you’re gonna be safe with it, especially when it can reduce, injuries and fatalities by 20%.

Aga Tinker: Yeah. And you, you can make that seatbelt comfortable too.

There’s things that you can buy online that’ll, pad up the seatbelt if that bothers you. And a lot of times too, people don’t notice that. [00:05:00] The pillar where the seatbelt is attached. A lot of times you can slide it up, you can adjust it. You can slide it up and down.

I don’t think people realize that sometimes, and that’ll, that makes a huge difference too. Then that seatbelt isn’t, hitting the bottom of your neck.

Jack Eves: Yeah, your neck right there. Trooper Tinker, always appreciate you coming in again. Click it or Ticket campaign is going on, starting today through Thanksgiving, ending on the 30th.

Trooper Tinker, is there anything else you’d like to add?

Aga Tinker: Just hope everyone has a great morning.

Jack Eves: For X101, I’m Jack Eves.