LaredoBuzz.Com

(LAREDO , TX)-  TxDOT  launched its annual Click it or Ticket campaign at Laredo Energy Arena on Friday May 25th.  Agency officials joined federal transportation safety representatives, state and local law enforcement officers to remind motorists of the importance of wearing seat belts. Texas law requires everyone in a vehicle to be secured by a seat belt.

While seat belt use in Texas is up over the last decade, seat belt use among pickup truck drivers and passengers continues to lag. In 2011, only 80.3 percent of pickup truck passengers used seat belts as compared to 92.4 percent of passengers in other vehicles. In 2010, one out of every two pickup truck drivers killed in a traffic crash was not wearing a seat belt. Approximately one out of every four vehicles registered in Texas is a pickup truck.

According to the Texas Transportation Institute, 93.7 percent of Texas drivers and passengers now buckle up. Experts at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimate that the 11-year-old Click It or Ticket initiative has resulted in 2,843 fewer traffic fatalities, 48,000 fewer serious injuries and a savings to the state of more than $10 billion in associated costs.

To ensure that Texans comply with seat belt laws, thousands of state troopers have joined police officers and sheriffs’ deputies statewide during a stepped-up enforcement period between May 21 and June 3, including the Memorial Day holiday weekend, to ticket drivers and passengers who aren’t buckled up.