Click it or Ticket Campaign Until June 5

The annual "Click it or Ticket" campaign is going on now across Georgia to bring awareness to seat belt safety. Snellville officers are just one of the local departments participating.

Promoted by the Governor's Office for Highway Safety, the campaign takes place May 23 - June 5, including the often-traveled Memorial Day holiday. Hundreds of police agencies will do road checks day and night to track down drivers and passengers who are not buckling up.

Law enforcement officials are especially concerned about people driving at night time. In 2009, 11,593 people died in traffic accidents across the country between the hours of 6 p.m. and 5:59 a.m., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Of those who died in nightime accidents in 2009, 62 percent were not wearing seatbelts, according to the highway safety administration.

In that same year, seatbelts saved an estimated 12,713 lives, and from 2005-2009, highway traffic officials estimate that 72,000 lives were saved.

Here are other statistics provided by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety:

MOST AT RISK:

• Teens: Those ages 13 - 15 have the highest percentage (67 percent) of all age groups to be fatally injured and unrestrained in traffic crashes.
• Young Adults: Among passenger vehicle occupants 18 to 34 years old who were killed in crashes, 63 percent were not buckled up. This is the second highest percentage for any age group.
• Men: Men, especially young men, are less likely than women to buckle up. In 2009, 66 percent of men 18 to 34 killed in passenger vehicles were not wearing their seatbelts.
• Truck Drivers and Passengers: Pickup truck drivers and passengers have a lower seatbelt usage rates than occupants of other passenger vehicles. In 2009, 68 percent of pickup truck occupants who were killed in traffic crashes were not wearing a seatbelt.

BENEFITS:

• When used by passenger vehicle occupants 5 and older, seatbelts saved an estimated 12,713 lives in 2009, more than 752,000 lives from 2004 through 2009, and 267,890 lives from 1975 through 2009.
• When used correctly, seatbelts reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent — and by 60 percent in pickup trucks, SUVs, and minivans.

• In fatal crashes in 2009, 77 percent of passenger vehicle occupants who were thrown from their vehicles were killed. However, only 1 percent of crash victims who were buckled up were completely ejected from their vehicles, compared to 31 percent of those who were unbuckled.
• Motorists can increase the odds of survival in a rollover crash in a light truck by 75 percent by wearing their seat belts.

PROVEN METHODS

• National belt use now the highest ever: The observed national belt usage rate rose to an all-time high of 85 percent in 2010, up from just 58 percent in 1994.