SATURDAY, May 29 (HealthDay News) -- A national push to
encourage seat belt use in the United States is being launched by
the Governor's Highway Safety Association and the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration.
Known as "Click It or Ticket," the campaign is, in effect, a
crackdown on those who choose not to buckle up, according to a news
release from the highway safety association.
Through June 6, federally funded seat belt enforcement zones and
checkpoints will be established across the country with the purpose
of stopping and ticketing anyone found driving without their seat
belt fastened.
The Governor's Highway Safety Association and the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration are making it clear that
their policing program will brook no excuses and no exceptions, and
federal and state-funded advertising will publicize as much
beginning this week.
Some states will harness the power of social media Web sites
such as Facebook and Twitter to help spread the message. A number
of states will place ads on video game consoles, such as XBox,
while others will use stickers, gift cards and coupons distributed
at popular fast-food chains and stores to draw attention to the
national safety effort.
The objective is to reduce passenger vehicle fatalities, which
the two organizations pointed out are often a function of unused
safety buckles. Although seat belts are now used by 84 percent of
the American public -- an all-time high -- 55 percent of passenger
vehicle deaths in 2008 involved people who were not wearing their
seat belt at the time of their accident.
That figure rises even higher for night-time fatalities. Among
the 12,000-plus vehicle occupants who died in 2008 in night-time
car crashes, a full two-thirds were not wearing their seat
belts.
More information
For more on seat belt safety, visit the
U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.