NHTSA launches "Click It or Ticket" campaign to kick-off summer driving season

Beginning next week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will greet the summer driving season by popping up all over the Internet and on TV with new ads reminding drivers and passengers to buckle up.

Today, we debuted some of our new ads at George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church, Virginia. Why there? Simple. Young people often think they’re invincible. Yet, like everyone in a passenger vehicle, they’re at tremendous risk in the event of a crash. Those students are the next generation of drivers, and among the most vulnerable. That's why we are making an unprecedented effort to reach out to them. We need them to hear our safety message.

Summer offers a great opportunity to create new, happy memories. Memories of going to the beach with family, camping with friends, enjoying extra sunlight hours, heading out for a quick ice cream.

Whatever the destination, a study NHTSA released today makes it clear: buckling your seat belt each and every time you get in any vehicle can mean the difference between life and death or terrible injury.

The numbers may surprise you:

• Seat belts saved more than 15,000 lives in 2007.
• National seat belt use in 2008 was 83 percent. Nearly one of five Americans still fails to buckle up regularly.
• 1652 more lives could be saved and 22,372 serious injuries prevented every year if every state raised its seat belt use rate to at least 90 percent.
• More than half (2502) of the 4540 teens killed on the road in 2007 were not wearing their seat belts. 
• At night it gets worse; nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of the 16 to-20 year olds killed in nighttime crashes were unbelted.

 
Now if that doesn’t convince you to buckle up, then perhaps this will: From May 18th to May 31st, as part of the nationwide "Click It or Ticket" enforcement campaign, officers all over the country will be out day and night to crack down on drivers and passengers who don’t buckle up.

So, not only will you be putting your life in danger if you don’t buckle up – you’ll also risk getting a ticket. 

Snapping on your seat belt takes far less time than deciding what to punch up on your car’s MP-3 player. It takes less time than keying in an address on your car’s GPS system. Wearing a seat belt costs nothing, yet it’s the single most effective traffic safety device ever invented.

Please, buckle up. It’s fast. It’s easy. In many states, it's the law. And it saves lives. It just makes sense.

Comments

[Filipe]

Why don't school buses have seatbelts?

[Port Canaveral Transportation - United Luxury Transportation]

I too have to point the same, seat belts in buses. Where goes children security in school buses, who need maximum security. Buses are over crowded and children should well protected.
Bus drivers should be highly experienced, should be well trained and informed of all the rules and regulations, they must take special care on speed brakes and should never try to overtake.

[TWK]

I believe you are the agency responsible for setting the crash standards on car bumpers. With all the data on inferior bumpers and repair costs increasing, why have you not corrected your prior feasko and improved the bumper standards in this country? 5-mph was too low, but this 2-mph impact standard is criminal. Bumpers are the first line of safety on any vehicle and you have essentially removed them. They are just decorative now. I walk faster than 2 miles per hour. You also know have expensive they have become to repair. Why has this not been corrected and who can I contact for an answer? This is one of the more stupid and irresponsible things done to "improve" driver safety. Please respond in writing to the email address sited. I already tried to contact NHTSA, but of course the web email was not functioning.

[serial numbers]

I doesn’t convince you to buckle up, then perhaps this will: From May 18th to May 31st, as part of the nationwide "Click It or Ticket" enforcement campaign, officers all over the country will be out day and night to crack down on drivers and passengers who don’t buckle up.