Fifty percent of the people ejected from a vehicle crash are killed, according to the commander of the North Carolina Highway Patrol, Colonel Bill Grey.
“Wearing your seat belt is the single most effective action to protect yourself in a crash,” Grey said at the annual Click It or Ticket press conference held May 23 at the Highway Patrol training track. “Click It or Ticket, every seat, every time. It’s the Law.”
Nearly 200 law enforcement officers gathered to send the public a message that using seat belts and child safety seats does save lives. From May 23 to June 5, one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, officers and troopers will be stepping up their enforcement of the seat belt laws.
Gov. Pat McCrory declared May as Seat Belt Safety Awareness Month saying that the safety and security of the citizens of North Carolina are vitally important, and that an estimated 545 lives were saved during a four-year period because of people using their seat belts.
Department of Transportation Secretary, Nick Tennyson said there is a clear advantage to buckling up – that 415 drivers or occupants who were unrestrained, died in wrecks last year.
Wake Med Trauma surgeon, Dr. Miren Schinco, also spoke to the audience about the importance of seat belt safety.
“We see the consequences of people not wearing their seat belt,” Schinco said. “Sixty percent of the people we see were not restrained.”
She said people state that seat belts are uncomfortable, but are broken bones comfortable? Some depend on air bags, but they don’t disperse the amount of force an accident victim is feeling. Others say they’d rather be thrown than crumpled in a car, yet there is a 75 to 80% increase in death with ejections or severe brain injury.
Dr. Schinco said other victims have said they weren’t going far, yet most crashes occur within 25 miles of the home at a speed less than 40 miles per hour. Others, she said, have said, “It’s only me,” yet it’s not. Law enforcement, hospital personnel and family are all effected by traumatic accidents.
Sponsored by the Governor’s Highway Safety Program, North Carolina's Click It or Ticket program began in 1993 and nearly every law enforcement agency in the state participates in the Click It or Ticket program. It is one of the most intensive law enforcement efforts of its kind, and North Carolina’s program serves as a model for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. North Carolina has an 89.9 percent buckle rate. The Click It or Ticket Program aims to get every motorist in America to buckle his or her seatbelt.
Click It or Ticket. Every Seat. Every Time. It’s The Law.