The safety of you and the people in your vehicle is the most important thing when it comes to driving on Texas streets and roadways.

It's astonishing to find out how many people don't wear a seat belt.  Wearing a seat belt is a life or death decision.  No one know when a accident might occur and wearing a seat belt can save your life.

Sixteen years ago a campaign started to encourage people in Texas to put on their seat belt.  That was the "Click It or Ticket" campaign.   Each year hundreds almost thousands of people die in car accidents because they did not have their seat belt on.  In the inception of the Click it Or Ticket campaign only 76% of people wore seat belts.  Today that number is 92% but that is still 8% of the Texas population not wearing a seat belt that could save their life.

The Amarillo Police Department along with  the Texas Department of Transportation will kickoff "Click It or Ticket" on Monday, May 21st, through June 3rd. Amarillo Police officers will be concentrating on seat belt violations. Not only will they be focusing on motorists wearing seat belts, they will also be looking for child restraint violations.

Now remember, even people in the backseat must be buckled in. So if you have people riding in your backseat, then make sure they put their seat belt on before you move the vehicle. Texas law requires that each person in the vehicle must be secured by a seat belt.

When it comes to children, all children younger than 8 years old must be in a child safety seat or a booster seat unless they are taller than 4 ft. 9 inches.

During 2017, 929 fatalities occurred on Texas roads and highways because people weren't wearing their seat belts.  The scariest part of these numbers, is 57% of these accidents occurred at night.  People are not wearing their seat belts at night.

Click It or Ticket isn't about handing out tickets, it is about the safety of our citizens.

Don't become a statistic, make sure you and your passengers are safe by wearing your seat belt.

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