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Failure to click-it means higher ticket
Click-itWEB
First-time seatbelt offenders now pay $25, while repeat offenders pay $50
It’s now more costly for motorists who don’t buckle up as the Click-it or Ticket campaign will have drivers digging deeper in their pockets to pay their fines.As of Jan. 1, a tougher seatbelt law in Tennessee increased the fine for first-time offenders from $10 to $25, and for repeat offenders from $20 to $50. The fine is just that, a straight fine without the addition of court costs that are added to many other moving violations.Law enforcement officials hope the new law will significantly reduce the number of seatbelt citations because people will think more about buckling up given the larger fine.“What we hope is that as a result of this increase in seatbelt fines, people will be encouraged to simply wear their seatbelts," said Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons, noting there has been a 255 percent increase in seatbelt tickets issued since 2010.Thanks to a change in the law a few years ago, lawmen are now able to make a traffic stop based purely for a seatbelt violation. Before that, seatbelt violations were only issued during stops for other violations.An increased percentage of people wearing seatbelts, state officials believe, will drop the death toll on Tennessee roads.More than 300 people who were not wearing seatbelts died on Tennessee roadways in 2015, according to the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security.