Click It or Ticket crackdown kickoff with border-to-border seat belt campaign

Helena- To kick off the 2018 Click It or Ticket seat belt initiative with the highest level of support, the Montana Highway Patrol is partnering with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to participate in Border to Border (B2B), a one-day national seat belt awareness event coordinated by participating state highway safety offices and their respective law enforcement liaisons. The B2B program aims to increase law enforcement presence by coordinating highly visible seat belt enforcement at heavily traveled and highly visible state border checkpoints. The B2B event will be held Monday, May 21, from 4-8PM, kicking off the Click It or Ticket week, which runs through June 3 and covers the busy Memorial Day holiday weekend.

"Past Border to Border initiatives have helped us spread the message about the importance of buckling up," said Major Lavin. The focus of B2B is on the evening hours, during which seat belt use is at its lowest. "We are working across state lines to do all that we can to keep our drivers and passengers safe. Wearing a seat belt is the number one thing that a person can do to help prevent death or injury during a vehicle crash," Lavin said.

The B2B program is also a successful study in collaboration between local law enforcement offices: During the 2017 B2Bprogram, participating law enforcement offices issued citations for 5,695 seat belt and child car seat violations, as well as 14,619 citations for other traffic infractions. This, in turn, impacts future driving behaviors for the better.

According to NHTSA, nearly half (48%) of the passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2016 were unrestrained. At night from 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., that number soared to 56 percent of those killed. That's why one focus of this year's B2B and Click It or Ticket campaigns is evening enforcement. During the week of Click It or Ticket, participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt enforcement, writing citations day and night.

"In 2016/17, we lost 183 people in Montana because they did not buckle their seat belts," said Major Lavin. Almost twice as many males were killed in crashes as compared to females, with lower belt use rates, too. Of the males killed in crashes, nationally, in 2016 more than half (52%) were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 40 percent were not buckled up. 

"If you know a friend or a family member who does not buckle up when they drive, please ask them to consider changing their habits," said Lavin. "Help us spread this life-saving message before one more friend or family member is killed as a result of this senseless inaction. Seat belts save lives, and everyone-front seat and back, child and adult-needs to remember to buckle up-every trip, every time." 

For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.