Since 2002, Texas law enforcement agencies have been teaming up with TxDoT and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in order to raise awareness about the safety benefits of wearing a seat belt through the Click It or Ticket campaign.
Regardless if you are riding in the driver set, passenger seat, or back seat, failure to buckle up is going to cost you in the state of Texas. Regardless of your age, unbuckled passengers and drivers face fines up to $200. However, the crackdown appears to be working. Seat belt usage in Texas as increased from 76 percent to 94 percent since the 2002, when the campaign was introduced.
Before Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law legislation that required automobile manufacturers to include seat belts in all vehicles, more than 50,000 fatalities occurred annually on the nation’s roadways. Today, this number has dropped significantly, down to 32,000.
Texas Seat Belt Facts:
- Men are less likely than women to wear seat belts.
- Only 91% of pickup drivers and 80% of pickup passengers buckle up compared to 95% of other drivers and 92% of other passengers, respectively.
- It is estimated that seat belts have saved more than 2,843 lives and prevented more than 48,000 serious injuries in Texas over the last decade.
- Seat belts reduce the risk of being injured in a serious crash by 45 percent. Those riding in pickups reduce their risk of injury by 60% when wearing a seatbelt, since pickup trucks are twice as likely to roll over during an accident.
More than 21,200 citations were issued in Texas for failure to wear a seatbelt in 2012. Call Previte Law Firm if you need to speak with an experienced traffic violation attorney in Fort Worth.