The annual Click It or Ticket seatbelt enforcement campaign – launched Monday, May 19, by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – will focus on nighttime belt use when the odds of being killed in a motor vehicle crash are three times greater. The campaign runs from May 19 to June 1.
Nighttime seatbelt use often is much lower than the nationwide average of 82 percent daytime belt use, according to NHTSA research. Of the 2,926 16- to 20-year-old passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2006, 68 percent were unrestrained. During the daytime, 57 percent of the 16- to 20-year-old occupants killed were not wearing seatbelts.
“Seatbelt use among young drivers and occupants is not what it should be, especially at night when the risk of dying in a crash triples,” NHTSA Administrator Nicole R. Nason said. “Clearly, we need to do more to make people of all ages understand that – whether traveling by car, SUV or truck – a seatbelt is the best way to stay alive, day or night.”
Across the country, law enforcement will issue tickets to seatbelt law violators. The campaign is supported by a $7.5 million national and state advertising campaign. Ads produced by NHTSA in English and Spanish will run across a wide range of highly targeted media, including print, radio and television. For more information, go to www.nhtsa.dot.gov/link/ciot.htm.
