Buckle Up May 24 – June 6, and Every Day
A national campaign takes place May 24 to June 6 to remind drivers to buckle up every trip.
The “Click It or Ticket” campaign – which coincides with the Memorial Day holiday – is a high-visibility enforcement effort run by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Buckling up is not just the safe thing to do, it’s the law. And it’s the simplest thing you can do to help limit injury or save your life during a crash.
According to NHTSA, in 2019, there were 9,466 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in the United States. In that same year, 55% of passenger vehicle occupants killed at night (6 p.m.–5:59 a.m.) were not wearing their seat belts. For this reason, one focus of the Click It or Ticket campaign is night-time enforcement.
In 2019, almost twice as many males were killed in crashes as compared to females, with lower seat belt use rates. Of the males killed in crashes in 2019, 51% were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 40% were unrestrained.
Five life-saving seat belt safety tips:
- Buckle up every trip, regardless of trip duration or distance
- Insist all passengers buckle up, including rear-seat passengers
- Ensure the seat belt is positioned correctly: the lap belt should sit across your hips, not your stomach and the shoulder belt should be placed across the middle of your chest, away from your neck
- NEVER put the shoulder belt behind your back or under your arm
- Ensure all child passengers are seated in an appropriate car seat for their age, and correctly secured. Visit the NHTSA website for guidance
DID YOU KNOW? Air bags are designed to work with seat belts, not replace them.
