Click it or Ticket this Memorial Day holiday. That’s right, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is urging drivers to buckle up this weekend.
The states in region 7, which includes Iowa, saw an overall increase in seat belt use over the last year, but this appears to be the exception. The national seat belt use rate in 2023 was 91.9%. The other 8.1% of drivers and passengers must remember that seat belts save lives. During this high visibility event, participating law enforcement agencies will take a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night.
One of the focuses of the Click It or Ticket campaign is nighttime enforcement. NHTSA data shows a higher number of unrestrained passenger vehicle occupant fatalities happen at night. Also, men are overrepresented in unrestrained passenger vehicle occupant fatalities with 54% of men (8,098 people) and 41% of women (3,201 people) dying without a seat belt in 2022.
For more information on the Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization, please visit NHTSA.gov/ClickIt.