Click It or Ticket Campaign Reminds Drivers: Buckle Up Every Trip, Every Time

DOVER, Del. (May 19, 2022)The Delaware Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is reminding drivers about the lifesaving benefits of wearing a seat belt this spring, during the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) national Click It or Ticket high-visibility enforcement effort. Delaware is joining the national seat belt campaign, which coincides with the Memorial Day holiday and runs from May 20 to June 5, 2022.

For this year’s Click It or Ticket seat belt mobilization effort, NHTSA is asking all states to participate in the kickoff event, Border to Border (B2B), a one-day, 4-hour national seat belt awareness event on May 23 that is coordinated by participating state highway safety offices and their respective law enforcement liaisons. The B2B program aims to increase law enforcement participation by coordinating highly visible seat belt enforcement and providing seat belt fact sheets for drivers at heavily traveled state borders.  

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

In Delaware, younger occupants are the most likely to be involved in unrestrained crashes. Additionally, almost twice as many males were killed in crashes compared to females. Studies show that males have a lower seatbelt usage rate than females. Of the males killed in crashes, more than half (66%) were unrestrained compared to 34% of females that were not buckled up.

“Over the past year in Delaware, 49 percent of people that were killed in crashes were not wearing a seatbelt,” said Kimberly Chesser, Director, Delaware Office of Highway Safety. “We see the results of not wearing a seat belt all the time. We see the loss of life and so often, it could have been prevented. It’s imperative we get the message out about the importance of seat belt safety to prevent these tragedies from happening.”

OHS is asking drivers and passengers across the country to please make buckling up an automatic habit. Whether you ride in the front seat or the back, and no matter which car seat or booster seat your child may use, everyone’s seat belt should be buckled every trip. Buckling up is the simplest thing you can do to limit injury or save your life during a crash.

“You may think you’re safe in a certain vehicle, or on a certain road, but the truth is, you’re safest when you buckle up, no matter what,” said Sarah Cattie, Senior Traffic Safety Program Manager. “Unfortunately, many families are suffering because their loved ones refused to follow this simple step.”

In addition to increased patrols, we want to educate drivers and passengers on the dangers of unbuckled driving and the correct way to buckle up safely:

Consequences of not wearing a seat belt

  • Buckling up helps keep you safe and secure inside your vehicle, whereas not buckling up can result in being totally ejected from the vehicle in a crash, which is almost always deadly. 
  • Airbags are not enough to protect you; in fact, the force of an airbag can seriously injure or even kill you if you’re not buckled up.
  • Improperly wearing a seat belt, such as putting the strap below your arm, puts you and your children at risk in a crash.

Guidelines to buckle up safely

  • The lap belt and shoulder belt are secured across the pelvis and rib cage, which are better able to withstand crash forces than other parts of your body.
  • Place the shoulder belt across the middle of your chest and away from your neck.
  • The lap belt rests across your hips, not your stomach.
  • NEVER put the shoulder belt behind your back or under an arm.

 

For more information on the campaign, statistics, and education visit www.arrivealivede.com/buckle-up/

Delaware Office of Highway Safety Logo

About the Delaware Office of Highway Safety

The Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is committed to improving the safety of Delaware’s motoring public by focusing on behavioral traffic safety issues, such as impaired driving, seat belt use, speeding, child passenger safety, pedestrian and bicycle safety, motorcycle safety, and teen driving issues. Follow the Delaware Office of Highway Safety on ArriveAliveDE.comFacebookTwitterInstagram, and Snapchat.

Media Contact:
Delaware Office Of Highway Safety
Jason Coleman
jason.coleman@delaware.gov
302-744-2743 (office)
302-943-7293 (cell)


Click It Or Ticket Campaign Starts May 24 With Border To Border Kickoff Event In Delaware

[DOVER, DE] May 19, 2021 — During this year’s national Click It or Ticket seat belt campaign, which will take place May 24 through June 6, 2021, the Delaware Office of Highway Safety (DOHS) will be teaming up with law enforcement nationwide for a Border to Border (B2B) kickoff event taking place on Monday, May 24 from 3 pm-7 pm across all 3 Delaware counties. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is asking all states to participate in B2B, a one-day, 4-hour national seat belt awareness event on May 24, coordinated by participating state highway safety offices. The B2B initiative aims to increase law enforcement participation by coordinating highly visible seat belt enforcement for drivers throughout each state across the country.

Delaware Governor John Carney Buckled Up in Motor VehicleDelaware Governor John Carney has supported DOHS’s ongoing occupant protection efforts by clicking into one of the recent safety awareness Seat Belt Selfie campaigns. Governor Carney demonstrated the proper way to buckle up in a motor vehicle (photo attached).

“Seat belts save lives, and this program serves to educate and encourage Delawareans to buckle up not only for themselves but also for their families,” said Governor Carney. “Studies have shown that children whose parents buckle up are much more likely to buckle up themselves. Make it a positive habit, and click that seat belt every time before you drive.”

Delaware’s Click It Or Ticket (CIOT) campaign will correspond with the annual national enforcement being implemented by state and local law enforcement agencies from May 24-June 6, 2021. In addition to the enforcement mobilization, DOHS will run simultaneous education campaign initiatives throughout the state via traditional media tactics such as billboards, statewide cable television, and broadcast terrestrial radio; digital media outlets including Spotify, Vevo, Facebook, Instagram, and connected television streaming apps; and will partner with local businesses to amplify the buckle up messaging such as tattoo parlors, hardware stores, outdoor boot camps, as well as extreme sports organizations, and venues.

Face the Facts

  • The statewide seat belt use rate in 2019 was 92.5%, which is good — but we can do better. The other 7.5% still need to be reminded that seat belts save lives.
  • 2020 saw a 53% increase from 2019 in unrestrained fatal and severe injury crashes in Delaware.
  • Over the past 5 years (2016-2020), younger adults were the most likely to be involved in unrestrained crashes, with the highest number of unrestrained occupants involved being under 30 (53%), and in that group, occupants 20-24 being involved in the most crashes.

Bust the Myths

  • Vehicle type: There seems to be a misconception among those who drive and ride in pickup trucks that their larger vehicles will protect them better than other vehicle types would in a crash. The numbers say otherwise: 58% of pickup truck occupants who were killed nationwide in 2019 were not buckled. That’s compared to 43% of passenger car occupants who were not wearing seat belts when they were killed. Regardless of vehicle type, seat belt use is the single most effective way to stay alive in a crash.
  • Seating position: Too many people wrongly believe they are safe in the back seat unrestrained. Forty-five percent of all front-seat passenger vehicle occupants killed nationwide in crashes in 2019 were unrestrained, but 58% of those killed in back seats were unrestrained.
  • Rural versus urban locations: People who live in rural areas might believe their crash exposure is lower, but in 2019, there were 11,971 passenger vehicle fatalities in rural locations nationwide, compared to 10,187 fatalities in urban locations. Out of those fatalities, 48% of those killed in the rural locations were not wearing their seat belts, compared to 45% in urban locations.

“Seat belts save thousands of lives every year, but far too many drivers and their passengers are still not buckling up, especially at night when the risk of being in a crash is even greater. With more people expected to travel on Delaware roadways this summer than last year, we ask that you help us to spread this lifesaving message. Seat belts save lives, and everyone — front seat and back, child and adult — must remember to buckle up,” said Kimberly Chesser, Director, Delaware Office of Highway Safety. 

 

In addition to public education and outreach efforts, DOHS will be hosting a first-of-its-kind seat belt riff video-making contest on TikTok called “Click-Tok.” The “Click-Tok” contest, which runs from May 21 to midnight June 2, 2021, encourages Delawareans to create videos using seat belt sounds, music, video, and an underlying Buckle Up message. Contest participants will be encouraged to join in on this new and fun opportunity through recruitment via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. The “Click-Tok” contest is proudly sponsored in part by traffic safety partner, AAA Mid-Atlantic. Three (3) contest winners will receive a prize in the form of a gift card.

 

 

highway and signs demonstrating qr codes make getting to information faster

For more information on the campaign, statistics, and education, visit https://www.arrivealivede.com/buckle-up/. From here, users can discover the Arrive Alive DE Visualizer Unrestrained Crash Tool which helps drivers visualize the impact unrestrained crashes have had on the state of Delaware over the past 5 years and test their knowledge about what crashing at various speeds feels like at 20, 30, or even 40 miles per hour (mph).

 

Delaware Office of Highway Safety logo

 

About the Delaware Office of Highway Safety
The Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is committed to improving the safety of Delaware’s motoring public by focusing on behavioral traffic safety issues, such as impaired driving, seat belt use, speeding, child passenger safety, pedestrian and bicycle safety, motorcycle safety, and teen driving issues. Follow the Delaware Office of Highway Safety on ArriveAliveDE.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.


Border 2 Border National Seat Belt Initiative On May 20

Border 2 Border National Seat Belt Initiative on May 20

Joint Effort Targets Unbuckled Motorists in Maryland, Delaware
Buckle Up, Every Seat, Every Time

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: 
Cynthia Cavett, Delaware Office of Highway Safety (302) 744-2743

click it or ticket logo

DOVER, DE (May 15, 2019) – The Delaware Office of Highway Safety (DOHS) and the Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration (MDOT MVA) are partnering with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), state and local law enforcement to kick off the annual Click It or Ticket seat belt safety campaign with Border 2 Border (B2B), a 1-day national seat belt awareness event on May 20.

“Buckling your seat belt is probably the single easiest thing you can do to protect yourself when you get in your car to drive. Delaware has a high seat belt use rate, however in 2018, 53 percent of vehicle occupants killed were unbuckled,” said Christopher Klein, Deputy Principal Assistant, Department of Safety & Homeland Security & DOHS, Acting Director.

In Delaware, 92.4 percent of drivers and front-seat passengers wear seat belts. For Maryland, 90.3 percent of drivers and front-seat passengers wear seat belts when traveling on state roadways, which is down from 92 percent in 2017. One in three occupants who die in a motor vehicle crash each year are unbelted.

“The Delaware Office of Highway Safety (DOHS) is happy to partner with the Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration’s (MDOT MVA) Highway Safety Office and agencies across the country to promote the “border-to-border” enforcement.  Law enforcement agencies in all three Delaware counties are working together to enforce Delaware’s primary laws for seat belts and child passenger safety to coincide with the national Click-It-or-Ticket initiative. It only takes 3 seconds to click it!” Sarah Cattie, DOHS Occupant Protection Program Manager.

Law enforcement across the region will join a multi-state seat belt enforcement effort on May 20 to initiate the Border 2 Border (B2B) 2019 initiative which includes a four-hour enforcement crackdown in each state. Local and national ads will run on billboards, television, radio and online through early June to generate awareness of this stepped-up enforcement.

“The 3 seconds it takes to buckle your seat belt could save your life,” said Christine Nizer, MDOT Motor Vehicle Administrator and Governor Larry Hogan’s Highway Safety Representative. “The driver sets the example – we’ve found that passengers are much more likely to buckle up if the driver does.”

Unbuckled passengers can become projectiles in a crash, causing serious or fatal injuries to others in the car. In 2018, only 70 percent of back seat occupants in cars, SUVs, and pick-up trucks were buckled up in Maryland.

“Highway safety is one of the most important issues we face daily,” said Colonel William M. Pallozzi, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police. “As we work to reduce crash deaths and injuries in our state and region, troopers will increase their vigilance, focusing especially on motorists violating the seat belt law.”

It’s the Law!
In Delaware: Driver will be cited for anyone in the car not wearing a seat belt or properly restraining a child. This is a primary offense. The penalty is $25 but with court costs and fees, the ticket will be $83.50.
 
In Maryland: Every driver and passenger must wear a seat belt. Children under the age of eight must be in a proper booster or child safety seat. Each person not buckled will receive an $83 citation.

About the Delaware Office of Highway Safety (DOHS)
The Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is committed to improving the safety of Delaware’s motoring public by focusing on behavioral traffic safety issues such as impaired driving, seat belt use, speeding, child passenger safety, pedestrian and bicycle safety, motorcycle safety, and teen driving issues. FAQs can be found at ArriveAliveDE.com.

About the Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration (MDOT MVA)
Learn more about the Maryland Highway Safety Office’s Toward Zero Deaths campaign at towardzerodeathsmd.com, on Facebook at TowardZeroDeathsMD, on Twitter at @tzd_maryland and on Instagram at twdzerodeaths_md.  

Dave makes some terrible decisions—especially while driving. So buckle up. Wearing your seat belt can help protect you from drivers like Dave. Please feel free to share this video. Use the hashtags #CIOT and #ArriveAliveDE.

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MOVE OVER LAW DAY – May 16, 2019

NHTSA Region 3 and Law enforcement Agencies Kick Off CLICK IT OR TICKET and MOVE OVER LAW DAY

Campaign also reminds drivers of mandatory “Move Over Laws” to protect law enforcement doing their jobs roadside

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: 
Cynthia Cavett, Delaware Office of Highway Safety (302) 744-2743

Move Over Law Logo

DOVER, DE (May 16, 2019) — As the Memorial Day holiday approaches, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and District of Columbia law enforcement agencies will join forces to remind drivers and passengers of the importance of seat belt use, while also highlighting their “Move Over” laws.

“Hundreds of DelDOT employees are out working on and around our roads every day and vehicles moving over when they see our crews increases safety for both our workers and the traveling public,” said Secretary of Transportation, Jennifer Cohan.

New to the region’s Click it or Ticket campaign this year, May 13 to June 2, is a reminder of the dangers first responders and roadway workers face while stopped on the roadways.  All 50 States have enacted “Move Over” laws, but very few Americans know they exist.
 
“With the recent crashes on 301 and the William V. Roth, Jr. Bridge in St. Georges City, the Delaware Office of Highway Safety cannot overstate the importance of compliance with the Move Over Law as it directly relates to the safety of our first responders and other response and utility personnel covered in the law. Please familiarize yourself with these laws and move over,” Department of Safety and Homeland Security Deputy Principal Assistant, and Delaware Office of Highway Safety Acting Director, Christopher Klein.

“AAA is in the business of rescuing millions of stranded motorists across the country, including more than 70,000 in Delaware, each year. At the heart of this effort are service technicians and tow truck operators who put their lives at risk each time they respond to a member’s call for help. AAA encourages all drivers to slow down and move over for police, firefighters, emergency medical service crews, utility and municipal fleets, and tow operators working at the roadside,” Ken Grant, Public and Government Affairs Manager for AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Today’s emphasis on Move Over laws coincides with the conclusion of Police Week, which pays tribute to the local, State, and Federal law enforcement officers who serve and protect us with courage and dedication.

Thousands of Americans are alive today thanks to strong state laws, the Click It or Ticket enforcement and paid media effort, and the year-round “Buckle Up America” campaigns.
 
In 2017, the use of seat belts in passenger vehicles saved an estimated 14,955 lives of occupants 5 and older. From 2013–2017, belt use is estimated to have saved almost 70,000 lives.

For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit https://www.nhtsa.gov/campaign/click-it-or-ticket. Click here for information on Move Over Laws and here for the Delaware Move Over Law in Section 4134 of Title 21, Chap. 41.

NASCAR Driver Ross Chastain sits down with highway safety super fan John Q. Rhodes at The Dover International Speedway for an exclusive discussion on seat belt safety.

About the Delaware Office of Highway Safety (DOHS)
The Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is committed to improving the safety of Delaware’s motoring public by focusing on behavioral traffic safety issues such as impaired driving, seat belt use, speeding, child passenger safety, pedestrian and bicycle safety, motorcycle safety, and teen driving issues. FAQs can be found at ArriveAliveDE.com.

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Middletown Lands Victory in Statewide High School Click It or Ticket Contest

MIDDLETOWN, DE—The Delaware Office of Highway Safety announces that Middletown High School is the winner of the 2015 “Click It or Ticket” seat belt contest. The contest was coordinated by Delaware law enforcement school resource officers across the state. Officers and student helpers undertook a weeklong educational campaign for high school students, which included “Excuse Busted” seat belt posters peppered throughout the schools, online posts, morning announcements and videos. To gauge the impact on students, officers conducted pre and post campaign seatbelt use surveys at the entrances and exits to the high school.  Officers distributed “Pass/Fail” tickets to students entering or exiting the parking lot as a friendly reminder to buckle up.  In comparing the before and after totals, Middletown High School and its school resource officer, Delaware State Police Cpl. Pauline Waibel, were declared the winner with a 28 percent increase in seat belt use.

“We want young drivers and their passengers to use seat belts every time they get in a vehicle,” says Jana Simpler, Director of the Office of Highway Safety.  “This educational effort was designed to engage students in discussions about seat belt use and dispel myths that typically keep teens from buckling up. Click it or Ticket is focused on keeping all occupants in a vehicle safe and we congratulate Middletown High School students for getting the message and sharing it with their peers.”

Middletown’s SRO and student helpers will receive a pizza party sponsored by Grotto Pizza to congratulate them for their efforts.  McKean High School and Brandywine High School took second and third place respectively.

More than 92 percent of people in Delaware wear their seat belts. A seat belt reduces a risk of injuries or death in a vehicle crash by half.

Get the seat belt facts:

  • Delaware law enforcement issue an average of 998 seat belt tickets per month
  • May, June, July are the months with the most seat belt tickets written in Delaware
  • Each individual fatality costs society $1.4 million dollars
  • From 2008-2012 seat belts saved nearly 63,000 lives
  • Most crashes happen within 25 miles of home. Always buckle up.

Learn more about seat belts by visiting www.buckleupde.org.