According to a Facebook post from the Village of East Troy Police Department, the national Click It or Ticket (CIOT) mobilization is underway now through June 4th. State and local law enforcement agencies across the nation are stepping up their enforcement efforts for drivers and passengers who are not wearing their seat belts. The Memorial Day holiday weekend is an especially dangerous time on the roads, as it is the first long holiday weekend of summer. The Click It or Ticket campaign aims to keep all travelers safe during this busy season. Seat belt use is one of the most effective ways to protect drivers and passengers from injury or death in a crash. During this year’s campaign, we hope to eliminate those risks by focusing our enforcement efforts on seat belt use, including during nighttime hours when there are typically more violations and fatal crashes. Wearing a seat belt is required by law in Wisconsin. Drivers who don’t wear a seat belt, or passengers who are unbelted, can be issued a $10 ticket. The driver’s penalty increases if a child passenger is not properly buckled up. Click It or Ticket isn’t about citations, it’s about saving lives. To help prevent crash fatalities, we need to step up seat belt enforcement, day and night.
Statistics:
Wisconsin’s seat belt use is dropping. The 2022 observational survey found the statewide seat belt usage rate was 87.5%. That rate dropped from 88.1% in 2021, which was down two percentage points from 2019. The national seat belt use rate in 2021 was 90.4%.
In Wisconsin, preliminary numbers show 170 drivers and passengers who died in crashes were not wearing a seat belt. Another 2,098 unbelted occupants were injured.
Nationally, men make up the majority of those killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes. In 2020, 67% of the 23,824 passenger vehicle occupants who were killed were men. Men also wear their seat belts at a lower rate than women do — 55% of men killed in crashes were unrestrained, compared to 43% of women killed in crashes.
