Click It or Ticket Campaign Starts May 18th

KANSAS CITY, MO--(Marketwired - May 15, 2015) - Once again, area law enforcement reminds motorists to Click It or Ticket. As part of the national seat belt enforcement campaign, law enforcement agencies around the country will be stepping up enforcement May 18 to 31, just before of one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. 

"Every day, unbuckled motorists are losing their lives in motor vehicle crashes," said Susan DeCourcy, Regional Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Region 7. "As we approach Memorial Day weekend and the summer vacation season, we want to make sure people are doing one simple thing that can help save them in a crash, buckling up."

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half of the 21,132 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2013 were unrestrained. At night (from 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.), that number soared to 59 percent of those killed. That's why one focus of the Click It or Ticket campaign is nighttime enforcement. Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night.

Men particularly at risk.
Almost twice as many men are dying in vehicle crashes compared to women, and wearing their seat belts less than women. Of the males killed in crashes in 2013, more than half (54%) were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 41 percent were not buckled up.

"If you ask the family members of those unrestrained people who were killed in crashes, they'll tell you -- they wish their loved ones had buckled up," Ms. DeCourcy added. "The bottom line is that seat belts save lives. If these enforcement crackdowns get people's attention, and get them to buckle up, then we've done our job."

For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot. 

Sample tweets

The 3 seconds it takes to buckle your seat belt could save your life. #3Seconds2Life http://ow.ly/wQq8U

Enjoy life's moments. Take 3 seconds to buckle up. #3Seconds2Life http://ow.ly/wQqkW