'Click It Or Ticket' Seat Belt Enforcement Starts Monday In Brick

BRICK, NJ — Do you wear your seatbelt every time you get in a car? Regardless of whether you're driving or a passenger? Whether you're in the front seat or back seat?

If you answered no to any of these questions, you have put yourself at a higher risk of dying in a motor vehicle accident, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For the next two weeks, the Brick Township Police Department again will be reinforcing that message through the national "Click It or Ticket" campaign.

The campaign runs May 22 through June 4, Brick Township police said.

Data from NHTSA show that 48 percent of the 22,441 people killed in crashes in 2015 were unbuckled. Of those killed in crashes at night, 57 percent were not wearing their seat belts. Of those who were killed in crashes in 2015, 52 percent of the men who died were not wearing seat belts, and 42 percent of the women who died were not buckled up.

Not wearing a seat belt also increases the risk of being ejected during a crash, the NHTSA said. In fatal crashes in 2015, about 80 percent of passenger vehicle occupants who were totally ejected from the vehicle were killed. Seat belts are very effective in preventing total ejections; in 2015 only 1 percent of the occupants reported to have been using restraints were totally ejected, compared to 30 percent of the unrestrained occupants.

Pickup truck occupants tend to be the lowest among any other vehicle type in wearing seat belts — 59 percent of drivers killed were not wearing a seat belt, compared to 54 percent for SUV drivers, 42 percent for passenger car drivers, and 41 percent for van drivers.

In 2015, the use of seat belts in passenger vehicles saved an estimated 13,941 lives. From 2011 to 2015, seat belts saved an estimated 64,000 lives.

The Click It or Ticket campaign is targeted to all drivers, but especially the hard-to-reach males ages 18-34 who research shows are far less likely to wear seat belts. NHTSA has been working with the States on Click It or Ticket since 2003. This year the effort will include one evening “Border-to-Border” 22-state operation on May 22, from 4-8 pm to kick off the enforcement mobilization. During these hours motorists can expect high-visibility checkpoints at well-traveled state border sites.

A teen fastening a seat belt, by State Farm, via Flickr, under Creative Commons license