News Flash

The Memorial Day weekend marks the start of the summer driving season, and to help make the summer safer for everyone, the Frisco Police Department, along with other Police Departments across Texas, will take part in the annual “Click It or Ticket” campaign and increase their efforts from May 21 to June 3 to pull over and ticket drivers and passengers who are not buckled up. According to recent crash data from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), more than 900 people were killed last year in crashes on Texas roads who weren’t wearing seat belts.

Last year, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute found the number of drivers and front seat passengers observed in 18 cities not wearing seat belts increased by almost 50 percent from day to night. Nighttime is a dangerous time for unbuckled drivers and passengers. In 2017, 57 percent of all vehicle crashes where occupants died and weren’t wearing a seat belt occurred at night (between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.).

Texas law requires everyone in a vehicle to buckle up or face fines and court costs of up to $200. Children younger than 8 years must be in a child safety seat or booster seat unless they’re taller than 4 feet 9 inches. If they aren’t properly restrained, the driver faces fines of up to $250 plus court costs.

The “Click It or Ticket” enforcement period is a joint effort by TxDOT, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Texas Department of Public Safety and numerous city and county law enforcement agencies.

According to NHTSA, wearing a seat belt is the single most effective thing drivers and passengers can do to protect themselves in a crash. Wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of dying in a crash by 45 percent in a passenger vehicle, and up to 60 percent in a pickup truck. Seat belts keep people from being thrown around, or worse, ejected from the vehicle in a crash, which is almost always deadly.

NHTSA estimates that the “Click It or Ticket” initiative in Texas has saved 5,473 lives, prevented over 95,500 serious injuries and saved more than $20.7 billion in related economic costs from 2002 through 2017.

To learn more about “Click It or Ticket,” visit texasclickitorticket.com.

Frisco Police PIO’s are available via email at [email protected] or by phone at 972-292-6133.

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