Click It or Ticket 2015: Law Enforcement Seat Belt Crackdown Begins

This week began the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) campaign for seat belt enforcement: the Click It or Ticket National EnforcementMobilization. From May 18 through the end of the month, the NHTSA encourages law enforcement officers to crack down on seat belt use and to ticketthose who are not wearing seat belts in violation of local laws.

The Oklahoma seat belt law requires that anyone aged 13 or older in the front seat of a vehicle must wear a seat belt. Rear passengers are not requiredto wear seat belts unless they are under the age of 13. Children aged 6-12 must sit in the rear and be restrained by a seat belt, and children aged5 and younger must sit in an appropriate child restraint seat--either a car seat or a booster seat. The state's child restraint laws are much lessstringent that recommendations by the American Association of Pediatrics, and pending legislation, if passed, would require much stricter car seatlaws. We will describe HB 1847, the proposed amendments to Oklahoma's car seat laws, in our next blog post.

Why is the NHTSA urging an annual seat belt crackdown?

According to government statistics, seat belt use in the United States is at 87 percent. This means that 13 percent of the population, some 27.5 millionpeople, do not wear seat belts, which puts them at greater risk of injury or death in a motor vehicle accident. According to the NHTSA, nearly9,600 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants were killed in auto accidents in 2013. The year before, in 2012, seat belts saved 12,174 people.

The agency also says that the crackdown is meant to bring awareness to seat belt safety and to bust several myths associated with seat belt use:

• MYTH: Riding in a large vehicle provides crash protection that makes seat belt use unnecessary. FACT: Unbuckled pickup truck occupants were killedat a greater rate than unbuckled passenger car occupants: 63 percent versus 43 percent.
• MYTH: It is less important to wear a seat belt in the back seat than in the front seat. FACT: Although Oklahoma law does not require a seat belt inthe back seat unless the passenger is under 13, statistics show that half of all front seat occupants killed in crashes were unrestrained, but61 percent of backseat passengers killed in accidents were unbuckled.
• MYTH: People in rural areas are less likely to be involved in a fatal accident. FACT: In 2012, there were 13,038 crash fatalities inrural areas, compared to 8,079 crashes in urban locations.
  

What does the seat belt enforcement initiative mean for Oklahomans? In short, police and state troopers are actively looking for seat belt violators. Thismeans that if you are in the front seat of a vehicle, either as a passenger or a driver, and you are not wearing your seat belt, you can be pulledover and ticketed. For some drivers, this may also mean an increased likelihood of an arrest for some other crime, such as DUI, drug possession, orgun possession.

Wearing a seat belt any time is a good idea for your personal protection. But for the rest of the month, if you don't wear your seat belt, you stand aneven greater chance of getting a ticket, thanks to the Click It or Ticket National Enforcement Mobilization.