'Border To Border' Seat-Belt Initiative Kicks Off 2018 'Click It Or Ticket' Campaign On May 21

Date Added: May 14, 2018 10:48 am

Andrew Gant
Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

‘BORDER TO BORDER’ SEAT-BELT INITIATIVE KICKS OFF 2018 ‘CLICK IT OR TICKET’ CAMPAIGN

To kick off the 2018 “Click It or Ticket” seat belt initiative with the highest level of support, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is spearheading Border to Border (B2B), a 1-day national seat belt awareness kickoff event coordinated by participating state highway safety offices and law enforcement agencies like the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.

The B2B program aims to increase law enforcement participation by coordinating highly visible seat belt enforcement and providing seat belt fact sheets for drivers at heavily traveled and highly visible state border checkpoints. The B2B event will be held next Monday, May 21, commencing “Click It or Ticket” week, which runs through June 3 and covers the busy Memorial Day holiday weekend.

This year’s kickoff will include a 4-hour enforcement crackdown from 4–8 p.m. on May 21. The focus of B2B is on the nighttime hours, during which seat belt use is at its lowest.

The B2B program is also a successful study in collaboration between local law enforcement offices: During the 2017 B2B program, participating law enforcement offices issued citations for 5,695 seat belt and child car seat violations, as well as 14,619 citations for other traffic infractions.

According to NHTSA, nearly half (48%) of the passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2016 were unrestrained. At night from 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., that number increased to 56 percent of those killed. That’s why one focus of this year’s B2B and Click It or Ticket campaigns is nighttime enforcement. During the week of Click It or Ticket, participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night.

Almost twice as many males were killed in crashes as compared to females, with lower belt use rates, too. Of the males killed in crashes, nationally, in 2016 more than half (52%) were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 40 percent were not buckled up.

“If someone in your life doesn’t use a seatbelt, please help them realize they’re making a mistake,” said Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood. “Every trip, every time. And if you’re the one not buckling up, take this opportunity to change your ways. You always think the worst will never happen to you, but when it does, it’s too late.”

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