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Fasten Your Seat Belt (If You Haven’t Already)
You’ve probably seen the ads and road signs around the country: Click It or Ticket. Now in its 16th year, this national safety belt enforcement program is still growing. And more importantly, it’s still working.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently reported that Click It or Ticket “has raised seat-belt-use rates more substantially and more quickly than any other program.” A record 83% of front-seat drivers and passengers buckled up in 2008, a 10% increase from 2001.
Thousands of lives are saved every year by just buckling up. According to federal data, over 91,000 people have survived car crashes because of seat belts since 2002. (That’s roughly equivalent to the entire population of Fargo, North Dakota.)
How It Works
What started in North Carolina as a 5-year project to reduce injuries and deaths has turned into a federally-led program. All states with belt laws now participate to varying degrees. States use advertising to boost public awareness, along with checkpoints and special patrols to enforce the message.
“Click It or Ticket works because it combines intense enforcement with frequent media messages that police are cracking down on belt-law violators,” explained Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
State by State
Thirty states, plus DC, have primary laws allowing police to stop and ticket motorists for not wearing a seat belt. Studies have shown that belt use increases and death rates decline in states that have these primary laws. There are still 19 states that lack primary laws, and Lund calls on all governors to help make universal safety-belt use a priority.
You can find out here whether your state has a primary or secondary seat belt law and see the max fines for first-time violators.
What’s Next
Despite the promising improvements, the program could be in danger of losing steam. “We’ve had lots of success with Click It or Ticket, it’s just that the gains have slowed,” Lund said. “The national belt-use rate in 2008 was only one percentage point higher than it was in 2007.”
On the other hand, the program’s goal of universal belt use could get a much-needed boost from the enhanced belt reminders on most new-model vehicles. About 90% of 2009 models have reminders that last longer than 8 seconds. And they’re efficient: Studies of the feature in new Fords and Hondas show a 5-6% boost in driver belt use. Lund continued, “Buckling up is the easiest and best lifesaving tool motorists have.”
Protect yourself and your passengers by making seat belts a priority.
For more information on traffic laws in your state, check out this IIHS chart.
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