Grant funds Pittsfield police seat-belt campaign

PITTSFIELD – Of 15 cars traveling down Peltoma Avenue in Pittsfield just after 2 p.m. Friday, only seven drivers were wearing seat belts – this despite a major effort both by state police and local law enforcement to raise awareness, and a state law that makes use of seat belts mandatory.

Pittsfield is one of 81 Maine police departments taking part in the “Buckle Up – No Excuses” campaign, which is a national effort to increase seat belt use. The campaign will continue through next week.

“We could stop 10 vehicles and ticket at least six of them for violations,” Pittsfield Officer Jason Emery said Friday. Emery said that when he asked drivers why they were not wearing their belts, they either simply shrugged their shoulders or said they forgot.

For the past week, Pittsfield officers have been conducting a seat belt awareness campaign at random locations around town using a grant to pay for additional staffing.

According to statistics provided by Sgt. Timothy Roussin, in just the first four days of the extra shift, 13 summons were given for seat belt violations and five written warnings. In addition, five summons were issued for speeding, as well as 14 written warnings and three verbal warnings for speed.

Some people caught in the patrol one day and warned were caught the second day and ticketed.

Although it is the seat belt issue that prompted the grant, Pittsfield officers say speeding is a serious problem. Town councilors complained at the last meeting that a crackdown was necessary.

“Do we have a speeding problem in Pittsfield?” said Officer Michael Cote. “Show me any town in Maine with a paved road and I’ll show you a speeding problem.”

Cote said that when the morning commuter traffic is at its peak – which also happens to coincide with students heading to school – cars are bumper to bumper, urging each other to go faster.

“They are actually pushing each other down the road,” Cote said.

Emery said that most departments don’t have extra funding to do routine traffic patrols.

“We could run these details all the time and get these kinds of violations, if we had the money,” he said. “We can’t do traffic and our regular patrol at the same time.”

In addition to pushing the “click it or ticket” campaign, Pittsfield officers nabbed drivers for failure to provide insurance, outdated inspection stickers, no front plates and operating after suspension of their license.