Seat belt shirkers beware.

The West Virginia University Department of Public Safety will be looking out for you during its third annual”Click It or Ticket”informational checkpoint 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, on the Evansdale Campus.

DPS officers manning the traffic stops will be handing out literature promoting seat belt usage and in the process observing motorists to make sure they are buckled up, said Officer Richard McGee.

Those who aren’t will receive a magistrate’s citation, which carries a small fine but does not count as points against a driver’s license, McGee added. They will also have to strap themselves in before officers will allow them to proceed.

“We try to make people aware that it’s very important to wear seat belts because they have been known to save lives,”he said.

The Governor’s Highway Safety Program launched the”Click It or Ticket”campaign in 2001 to reduce traffic-related deaths and injuries in West Virginia.

Seat belts save an estimated 9,500 lives a year, according to the GHSP Web site.

McGee said officers hear from some of these saved lives during the checkpoints. One student told officers he was in an accident that would have been fatal had he not been buckled up.

“These are stories we like to hear,”McGee said.

For more information about the”Click It or Ticket”program, go online at http://www.wvdot.com/6_motorists/safety/index.htm .