Abilene Reporter-News
Over the past 10 years, the Click It or Ticket campaign has saved more than 2,800 lives in Texas and led to 48,000 fewer serious injuries while lowering related costs by $10 billion, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Before the campaign began, only about 76 percent of the Texans reported using seat belts in vehicles. Last year, the Texas Transportation Institute reported, the usage rate reached almost 94 percent.
Thousands of Texas law enforcement officers will work additional hours to check for seat belt use during this year’s Click It or Ticket campaign, which began Monday and runs through June 5. The campaign combines education and enforcement to achieve compliance with seat belt usage.
Bev Kellner, Texas AgriLife Extension Service passenger safety program manager, said, “We’ve come a long way, but there is still more work to be done. Though traffic fatalities are down, motor vehicle crashes are still the leading cause of death for Texans aged 44 and under.” In 2009, more than 3,000 Texans died in vehicle crashes and nearly half of those killed were unbuckled.
Some groups are still resistant to wearing their seat belt - young drivers, especially young men, as well as pickup truck drivers and their passengers have a lower usage rate. It is especially important for pickup truck drivers and their passengers to buckle up because pickup trucks are twice as likely to roll over as passenger vehicles. Wearing your seat belt reduces the risk of fatal injury by 45 percent, and in pickups, that number increases to 60 percent.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, in 2010 half of pickup truck drivers killed in traffic crashes were not buckled up.
Since 2009 the seat belt law in Texas requires all passengers, both front and back, to buckle up in every position where there is a seat belt. The law also includes 12- and 15-passenger vans.
For children, the law states that all children under age 8, unless taller than 4 feet, 9 inches, need to be in a child safety seat system. Experts recommend keeping children under 4 feet, 9 inches tall in a booster seat until the vehicle seat belt fits them properly.
The goal this year is to get every Texan to always buckle up, on every trip, every time so we can celebrate more lives saved next year.
Copyright 2011 The E.W. Scripps Company