2022 Click It or Ticket Campaign

From May 23-June 5, 2022, the Town of Lake Clarke Shores Police Department and law enforcement agencies across the nation will be conducting enforcement efforts for motorists who aren’t wearing their seat belts. Buckling up is the simplest thing you can do to limit injury or save your life during a crash.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA), in 2020, there were 10,893 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in the United States. In that same year, 58% of passenger vehicle occupants killed at night (6 p.m.–5:59 a.m.) were not wearing their seat belts. 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. In the Town of Lake Clarke Shores, the maximum penalty for a seat belt violation is $116.00.

You may think you’re safe in certain vehicles, or on certain roads, but the truth is, you’re safest when you buckle up, no matter what. Unfortunately, many families are suffering because their loved ones refused to follow this simple step. If you know a friend or a family member who does not buckle up when they drive, please ask them to consider changing their habits. Help us spread this lifesaving message before one more friend or family member is killed as a result of this senseless inaction. Seat belts save lives, and everyone — front seat and back, child and adult — needs to remember to buckle up.

Face the Facts

• The national seat belt use rate in 2020 was 90.3%, which is good — but we can do better. The other 9.7% still need to be reminded that seat belts save lives.
• Among young adults 18 to 34 killed while riding in passenger vehicles in 2020, more than half (60%) were completely unrestrained — one of the highest percentages for all age groups.
• Men make up the majority of those killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes. In 2020, 67% of the 23,824 passenger vehicle occupants who were killed were men. Men also wear their seat belts at a lower rate than women do — 55% of men killed in crashes were unrestrained, compared to 43% of women killed in crashes.

Bust the Myths

• Vehicle type: There seems to be a misconception among those who drive and ride in pickup trucks that their large vehicles will protect them better than other vehicles would in a crash. The numbers say otherwise: 62% of pickup truck occupants who were killed in 2020 were not buckled. That’s compared to 47% of passenger car occupants who were not wearing seat belts when they were killed. Regardless of vehicle type, seat belt use is the single most effective way to stay alive in a crash.
• Seating position: Too many people wrongly believe they are safe in the back seat unrestrained. Fifty percent of all front-seat passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2020 were unrestrained, but 59% of those killed in back seats were unrestrained.
• Rural versus urban locations: People who live in rural areas might believe that their crash exposure is lower, but in 2020, there were 11,922 passenger vehicle fatalities in rural locations, compared to 11,683 fatalities in urban locations. Out of those fatalities, 52% of those killed in the rural locations were not wearing their seat belts, compared to 49% in urban locations.