Albemarle County police officials met Tuesday to announce a series of traffic enforcement measures in response to the 20 traffic fatalities that have occurred so far this year in the area.
Albemarle Police Capt. Crystal Limerick and Police Chief John Miller announced the new "zero-tolerance" policy.
"Following the 'zero-tolerance' policy, if you are stopped for any reason and found not wearing a seat belt, you will be ticketed," Limerick said.
"Of the 19 traffic fatalities that occurred on public roads, 17 of them involved at least one of the three following factors: no seat belt, excessive speed or alcohol," she said.
According to Albemarle County spokeswoman Lee Catlin, the new traffic policy will be one of the main focuses of county police for the next six to eight weeks.
The county said their efforts are for the safety of the community.
"We are not doing this because we want to hassle or arrest people, but because we want to show the community that we are taking this very seriously," Catlin said.
According to Limerick, the efforts will be focused in mainly rural areas, because that is where the majority of the accidents have occurred.
"We will be reallocating enforcement in rural areas to do speed assessment, and we will increase traffic safety checkpoints and sobriety checkpoints, which will be targeted toward drunk drivers," Limerick said.
According to Limerick, University students are not responsible for the increase in drunk driving.
"I would not blame it on the University at all," Limerick said. "The traffic fatalities are absolutely not University-related."
Limerick was quick to point out that failure to wear a seat belt is not the only factor leading to fatal car accidents.
"Wearing a seat belt does not prevent an accident, but if you are involved in an accident while wearing a seat belt, serious injury will be significantly less and the likelihood of death will be significantly less," Limerick said.
University Crime Prevention Officer Becky Campbell recently said University Police are implementing their own traffic enforcement campaigns.
"The week of Thanksgiving we will have the 'Buckle-up Safety' campaign, and the weekend of Nov. 23 we will have the 'Smart, Safe, and Sober' campaign when we will put out extra patrol," Campbell said.
According to Limerick, University police and Albemarle County police have not collaborated in their efforts to decrease traffic fatalities.
"We have not coordinated with them at this time," Limerick said.
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