If you are driving in Texas you better buckle up. Not only is it safer than driving without a seat belt, it is also the law. All this week and through the holiday weekend Texas police and the highway patrol will be focusing their efforts on finding and citing drivers who flaunt the law.
Many states will be conducting ‘Click It Or Ticket’ enforcement patrols this weekend, one of the busiest driving times of the year, but Texas decided to start their enforcement early in order to increase driver awareness.
Just last week a new study found that although seat belt in general was on the rise in Texas, drivers behind the wheel of pick-up trucks were not included and were much less likely to buckle up behind the wheel.
Texas police are now aiming to change all that, using the partially federally funded Click It Or Ticket program to get the message out to drivers who think they invulnerable or just too lucky to get killed or seriously hurt behind the wheel of their pick-’em-up truck.
The latest “Click It or Ticket” campaign runs from May 21 through June 3 over the Memorial Day holiday and the first week of summer vacation. Officers, deputies and troopers will be working overtime.State law has required drivers to buckle up for 11 years. In 2009 lawmakers said all passengers needed to strap-in as well. Children also need to be in a car seat or booster seat.Traffic accidents are still a big problem in the state. It’s one of the leading causes of deaths in Texas. The state ranks seventh in the nation when it comes to wearing a seat belt.“Last year nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in fatal car crashes here in Texas, and nearly half of those were not wearing their seat belt,” said Mark Cross of the Texas Department of Transportation.