The Texas Department of Transportation launched their 12th-annual Click It or Ticket campaign, which will run from May 20 through June 2. This means that law enforcement officers will be out in full force during this time to ticket drivers and passengers who are not wearing their seat belts, or have not properly buckled their children. Fines will range from $25 to $250 per individual not buckled, including court costs.
Texas law already requires all passengers and drivers to be buckled up, and children younger than eight years old must ride in a child safety seat or booster seat until they are taller than four feet, nine inches. LPD Sgt. Robert Hook said that in 2012, his police department issued 1,486 citations to people not wearing seat belts—470 of which were for unrestrained children. As a whole in 2012, across the state, there were more than 48,000 seat belt citations and 17,000 child safety seat citations.
Last year, when the Click It or Ticket campaign launched, there was an accident that very day in which a woman was not wearing her seat belt and crashed into another vehicle. She died because of the resulting trauma, and officers feel she would have survived the car crash if she had been wearing her seat belt.
Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Bryan Witt said "I've seen crashes where it seemed impossible for someone to survive, and yet due to one common factor—the use of seat belts—the occupants survived."
We urge you to wear your seat belt at all times. It could save your life. If you were seriously injured in an accident and need help, contact us today.