Announcements: Click It or Ticket Campaign — May 21–June 3, 2012

Announcements: Click It or Ticket Campaign — May 21–June 3, 2012

Weekly

May 18, 2012 / 61(19);359

In 2010, approximately 22,000 passenger vehicle occupants (excluding motorcyclists) died in motor vehicle crashes in the United States, representing 67% of all motor vehicle crash deaths (1). An additional 2.7 million occupants were treated for injuries in emergency departments in the United States (2). Although seat belt use in the United States is now estimated at 85%, millions of persons continue to travel unrestrained (3). Using a seat belt is one of the most effective means of preventing serious injury or death in the event of a crash. Seat belts saved an estimated 12,546 lives in 2010. If everyone had been buckled up, approximately 3,300 additional lives could have been saved (4).
Click It or Ticket, a national campaign coordinated annually by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to increase the proper use of seat belts, takes place May 21–June 3, 2012. Law enforcement agencies across the nation will conduct intensive, high-visibility enforcement of seat belt laws, during both daytime and nighttime hours. Campaign activities in 2012 continue to focus on young adult men (aged 18–34 years), a group that is less likely to wear seat belts and more likely to be killed in a motor vehicle crash than others (2,3). Additional information regarding activities for the 2012 Click It or Ticket campaign is available from NHTSA online at http://www.nhtsa.gov. Additional information on preventing motor-vehicle crash injuries is available from CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety.

References

1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2010 motor vehicle crashes: overview. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation; 2012. Available at http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pubs/811552.pdf . Accessed May 9, 2012.
2. CDC. WISQARS (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System). Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars. Accessed May 9, 2012.
3. CDC. Vital signs: nonfatal, motor vehicle-occupant injuries (2009) and seat belt use (2008) among adults—United States. MMWR 2001;59:1681–6.
4. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Lives saved in 2010 by restraint use and minimum-drinking-age laws. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation; 2012. Available at http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pubs/811580.pdf . Accessed May 9, 2012.