2010's Click It Or Ticket campaign has one goal: to save lives

This Memorial Day Weekend marks summer’s official beginning. And I am glad of that.

I'm pretty sure I'm not alone, too, because this weekend, 28 million Americans will hit the road for a vacation. Tens of millions more will get into their cars for a barbecue or other festive gathering across town.

But 16% of those on the road this weekend won’t buckle up on the way. They will choose not to wear their seat belts. And the consequences of that choice can be grim--equal parts deadly and heartbreaking. And 100% preventable.

At the 2010 Click It or Ticket launch

Today, we launched our annual Memorial Day weekend Click It or Ticket enforcement campaign. Between May 24th and June 6th, 10,000 police departments across the country will be out in force, writing tickets if you’re not wearing your seat belt.

The point is not to write tickets; the point is to get people to buckle up.

The good news is that 84% of Americans are doing just that every time they climb into a car. That's up from only 60% just a few years ago.

Capt. Thomas Didone, above, talks about his son Ryan, below

But, some--like Ryan Didone--don't always click it. And today, Ryan's father, Capt. Thomas Didone of the Montgomery County, MD, police, is left to tell the tragic story of losing his son in an October 2008 car crash:

"It only takes a second, a split second, and life is changed. I want all the parents to hug their kids. Today, they came home safe, but you can't assume that tomorrow they will, unless you continue to talk to them and get them to buckle up."

  You know, every day 38 people in this country die because they were involved in a car crash and were not wearing their seat belts. 38 lives cut short. 38 families left grieving. 38 sets of friends mourning an unnecessary loss.

For 2008, the year Ryan was killed, those 38 per day totaled 14,000 for the year. That's the equivalent of 70 Boeing 747s fully loaded, yet it doesn't catch the nation's attention.

I don't get it; I really don't. It costs absolutely nothing to click that seat belt around you. Yet it can cost you everything if you don't.

As National Highway Traffic safety Administrator David Strickland said today, "Regular seat belt use is the single best way to protect yourself and your family in motor vehicle crashes."

So, please save yourself the hassle, save yourself the fine; and, above all, save yourself and those who love you the many years you have ahead of you.

When you get in the car, just click it. Please, buckle up that seat belt. Every trip; every time.

Comments

[Craig Close]

Mr Secretary,

You mention 'Click It or Ticket' and instantly there are comments that the gov't should not be a nanny. You need a national information campaign to inform all drivers and passengers that the use of seat belts helps to prevent crashes as well as protecting during and after crashes.
An unbelted driver can be moved from behind the wheel and away from the pedals if the vehicle is set into a clockwise spin - even if thru no fault of the driver. Unbelted passengers can interfere with the driver even when the driver is belted.
Use of seat belts is NOT a personal choice issue and the whole world has to be informed of that fact. There are too many people who see 'personal choice' in everything when in some instances it is an issue of being a potential danger to those around them. Let's get the message out.

[Michael E. Bailey]

Seat belts are one of the best safety devices we have and should always be used. The Click it or Ticket Campaign will get attention and that is what is necessary for greater use of seatbelts. Our highway safety programs are better than what many nations now have. In Canada mohre people are killed on the roads but fewer people use the seatbelts there and many like to drink and drive. Seatbelts do save lives. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[Tom West]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't car safety specifciations in the USA require manufacturers to provide protection for dirvers and passenegers not wearing a seatbelt? If so, this sends out the wrong message, and those requirements should be abolished.

[Kale Freilinger]

I have been searching for PROOF for my school paper that seat belts save lives. There isn't any. thousands of posts and articles spewing the same things. like this one saying 38 people a day died because they werent wearing a seat belt. Where is the truth in the statement it needs to be qualified with something. The absence of a seat belt can not kill you. The accident can. I need proof of all this rederick. The opponents of the seatbelt laws have plenty of evidence to show there is no correlation between seat belt use and life saving. Somebody PRINT SOMETHING useful.

[Peter]

As traffic tickets are civil infractions, we can't defend against these tickets.

I had a ticket with a gray seat belt with a gray shirt on. Went to traffic court and lost.

The Primary Enforcement law of Seat Belts is the most assassinated pieces of law that has been pushed by the Feds in 20 years if not longer.

Bottom line, the cities have turned this into a revenue operation and even with three witnesses that I had a seat belt on, I still lost.

[Carroll]

I know in some cities, seat belt violations are secondary offenses,,,meaning they have to stop you for some other violation before you get a ticket for no seat belt.

I think it needs to be the same law nation-wide.

[Ranger Ticket]

That's great policy. safety first.