NHTSA Region 7, Local Law Enforcement Team Up for Click It or Ticket

This Thanksgiving holiday, local law enforcement is teaming up with the US Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Region 7 on a high-visibility Click It or Ticket seat belt awareness campaign.

Over the entire Thanksgiving holiday weekend (Wednesday, November 22 through the early morning hours on Monday, November 27), your law enforcement community will be working together to reduce the number of fatalities that occur when vehicle drivers and passengers fail to buckle up. If you're unbuckled, you may be pulled over and issued a ticket.

During the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 2021, there were 361 passenger vehicle occupants killed in traffic crashes across the nation. Tragically, half were unrestrained. Not wearing a seat belt proved to be deadly at any time of the day during the holiday weekend: 52 percent of those killed in nighttime crashes were unbuckled and 46 percent of those killed in daytime crashes also were unbuckled. These deaths represent needless tragedies for families across America and may have been prevented with the simple click of a seat belt.

The facts don't lie: If you're ejected from a vehicle during a crash, the odds are that you will not survive. In 2021, more than four out of five (83 percent) of passenger vehicle occupants ejected from vehicles in crashes were killed. Wearing your seat belt is the most effective way to prevent ejection.

"Buckle your seat belt to stay safe and stay legal," said Regional Administrator Susan DeCourcy. "Whether you're driving across the country or across the street, during the day or at night, it is essential that you wear a seat belt. In the last decade, seat belts saved the lives of more than 100,000 people in the United States. This Thanksgiving, and every day of the year, remember: Click It or Ticket."

We want you to make it to the dinner table this Thanksgiving. The bottom line is this: a seat belt may very well mean the difference between spending the holiday with family and friends or in a hospital or worse. Make sure you and all passengers fasten seat belts so everyone can have a happy holiday weekend. For more information about traveling safely this Thanksgiving, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/seat-belts.

(Information courtesy NHTSA.)