From May 22 through June 7, the Garland PD is joining forces with the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Public Safety by working to increase seat belt use through the Click It or Ticket campaign.
Texas law requires drivers and all passengers – including those in the back seat – to wear a seat belt or risk a ticket, fines and court costs up to $200 each. Children under the age of 8 must be in a child safety seat or booster seat unless they are taller than 4 feet 9 inches. Fines issued to drivers for unrestrained children in their vehicle can be as high as $250 plus court costs.
Click It or Ticket enforcement is an effort to remind Texans to buckle up every time they get in a vehicle. Buckling up not only protects motorists against expensive citations, it also saves lives.
Statistics continue to show that when vehicle passengers are properly seat belted, injuries are less severe and death less likely to occur during a vehicle crash.
Seat Belt Facts from texasclickitorticket.com:
- Texas achieved a 91.6 percent statewide seat belt use rate in 2016.
- The Click It or Ticket initiative in Texas saved 5,068 lives, prevented 86,359 serious injuries and saved more than $19.3 billion in related economic costs from 2002 to 2016.
- In 2016, there were 2,580 Texas crashes in which unbuckled people sustained fatal or serious injuries.
- Last year, of all crashes in which people died and weren’t wearing a seat belt, 62 percent occurred at night.
- Wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of dying by 45 percent for people in the front seat of passenger cars. For those in pickups, seat belts reduce the risk of dying by 60 percent since pickups are twice as likely to roll over as passenger vehicles.
It’s the Law: Buckle Up Day and Night.