Teen Click It or Ticket: Saving Young Lives One Buckle at a Time

Texas Teens and the Importance of Buckling Up

Texas teenagers have big dreams for the future, and a simple click can help keep them alive. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is urging all teens to buckle up, every seat, every ride, as part of its Teen Click It or Ticket campaign. The numbers tell a sobering story: in 2023, Texas saw a 6% increase in teens not wearing seat belts in crashes. Tragically, out of the 296 teens who died in traffic crashes that year, 49% were unbuckled at the time of the crash.

A Deadly Gamble: The Risk of Not Wearing a Seat Belt

I interviewed the Public Information Officer for TxDOT, Alaisha Montanez who shared with us that the Executive Director Marc Williams emphasized the dire consequences of skipping this crucial safety step, saying “These fatalities serve as a sobering wake-up call. Every time someone gets in a car and skips buckling up, they’re taking a deadly risk. In the event of a crash, seat belts can give you the best chance to live, and yet far way too many Texas teens are still skipping this critical safety step.”

The campaign’s goal is to remind teens that buckling up takes only seconds, but those seconds save lives.

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TXDot will be conducting a Statewide Tour to Promote Seat Belt Awareness

The Teen Click It or Ticket campaign will travel across the Lone Star State  until February 15, stopping off at high schools and community colleges in the Texas cities that have the highest "teenage seat belt violations." The tour brings with it a trailer with the wreckage of a pickup truck that involved 2 teenagers that survived a crash with minor injuries, thanks to the seat belts they were wearing.

Tour Stops Include:

  • Jan. 30: El Paso Community College (Valle Verde campus)
  • Feb. 3: San Antonio (Palo Alto Community College)
  • Feb. 4: Austin (Glenn High School)
  • Feb. 6: Brownwood (Howard Payne University)
  • Feb. 11: Lufkin (Hudson High School)
  • Feb. 13: Houston (Houston Community College-Felix Fraga Academic Campus)

The Law and the Cost of Not Buckling Up

Alaisha reminded us that "wearing your seatbelt isn’t just the safest choice, it’s the only choice because it's the law." If drivers and all passengers, including those in the back seat, who are caught unbuckled will face fines up to $200. Beyond legal consequences, the real cost of not wearing a seat belt can be devastating injuries or death.

The Teen Click It or Ticket campaign reminds us of the grim reality, that since November 7, 2000, Texas has not had a single day without a traffic fatality. As I've always said "buckle up drive safe because the life you save may be that of a loved one or your very own."  rest assured if the campaign comes to Abilene we will bring it to your attention. Drive safe and #EndTheStreakTX

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