2018 Click it or Ticket – May 21 to June 3

2018 Click It or Ticket With a Border to Border Kick-Off

Fact Sheet

Change Habits to Save Lives

Be a Part of the Progress

• From May 21-June 3, State and local law enforcement agencies across the Nation are stepping up enforcement to crack down on motorists who aren’t wearing their seat belts.
• For this year’s Click It or Ticket seat belt mobilization effort, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is asking all States to participate in the kickoff event Border to Border (B2B), a 1-day national seat belt-awareness event coordinated by participating State highway safety offices and their respective law enforcement liaisons. 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, highly visible State border checkpoints.
• The B2B kick off will include a 4-hour enforcement crackdown from 4–8 p.m. on Monday, May 21. The focus of B2B is on the nighttime hours, during which seat belt use is at its lowest. The operation will include both interstates and local roadways, and NHTSA is asking all States to participate this year.

Enforce Life-Saving Laws

• Click It or Ticket isn’t about citations; it’s about saving lives. In 2016, there were 10,428 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in the United States. To help prevent crash fatalities, we need to step up enforcement and crack down on those who don’t wear their seat belts.
• Seat belt use is required by law for a reason: In 2016, seat belts saved an estimated 14,668 lives of occupants 5 and older. From 2012 to 2016, seat belts saved nearly 67,000 lives.
• If all passenger vehicle occupants 5 and older involved in fatal crashes had worn their seat belts, an additional 2,456 lives could have been saved in 2016 alone.

Face the Facts

• The national seat belt use rate in 2016 was 90.1 percent, which is good—but we can do better. The other 9.9 percent still need to be reminded that seat belts save lives.
• Among young adults 18 to 34 killed in crashes in 2016, more than half (57%) 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 2016, 65 percent of the 23,714 passenger vehicle occupants who were killed were men. It comes as no surprise that men wear their seat belts at a lower rate than women do – 52 percent of men in fatal crashes were unrestrained, compared to 40 percent of women.
• High-visibility seat belt enforcement is important 24 hours a day, but nighttime is especially deadly for unbuckled occupants. In 2016, 56 percent of passenger vehicle occupants killed at night (6 p.m. – 5:59 a.m.) were not wearing their seat belts.

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: 61 percent of pickup truck occupants who were killed in 2016 were not buckled up. That’s compared to 42 percent 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. Forty-seven percent of all front-seat passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2016 were unrestrained, but 57 percent 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 2016, there were 13,732 passenger vehicle fatalities in rural locations, compared to 9,366 fatalities in urban locations. Out of those fatalities, 49 percent of those killed in the rural locations were not wearing their seat belts, compared to 46 percent in urban locations.

Click It or Ticket—Day and Night

• High-visibility seat belt enforcement is important 24 hours a day, but nighttime is especially deadly for unbuckled occupants. In 2016, 56 percent of passenger vehicle occupants killed at night (6 p.m. – 5:59 a.m.) were not wearing their seat belts.

Learn more about the Click It or Ticket mobilization at www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.