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What You May Be Missing at Night

Tuesday, May 16th, 2023

Oh no! Red and blue flashing lights in the rear-view mirror. What could you have possibly done wrong? You just hopped in the car for a quick trip to the store. You’re driving the speed limit, not blasting your music, using your blinkers. Did you remember to fasten your seat belt? No.

Between May 22 and June 4, officers statewide are stepping up their efforts to ticket anyone not wearing a seat belt, especially at night.

Letty von Rossum, TxDOT Behavioral Traffic Safety Section Director, warns motorists, “In 2022 more than 3,300 Texans who failed to wear their seat belts were killed or seriously injured. Simply remembering to put on your seat belt increases your chances of surviving a crash by 45%. In pickup trucks, that number jumps to 60%.”

You might think that under the cover of darkness, police officers don’t notice unbuckled drivers and passengers. But they do. If you’re pulled over, that means you’ll face fines and court costs up to $200. Instead of putting yourself and others in danger, remember: buckle up day and night, every rider, every ride.

#EndTheStreakTX

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Texas Law Requires Back Seat Passengers Be Buckled Up

Tuesday, May 16th, 2023

FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELT

We all know we’re supposed to buckle up, whether we’re the driver or a passenger. Warnings of all kinds remind us to fasten our seat belts, including lights, bells, chimes, dings and sometimes our vehicles won’t even start until seat belts are fastened.

But what about the other people in our vehicles? You know, your friends or family in the back seat. Are there any bells, dings, and warnings to remind rear passengers to buckle up? Not necessarily.

Sometimes drivers may not ask or double check to see if their back-seat passengers are buckled in. That’s where we come in—to remind everyone that it’s ILLEGAL to be unbuckled in either the front or back seat, and it’s punishable by fines and fees up to $200.

Children younger than 8 years old must be in a child car seat or booster seat unless they are taller than 4 feet 9 inches. Fines issued to drivers for unrestrained children in their vehicle can be as high as $250 plus court costs.

The safest place for children to ride in a vehicle is the back seat, and all children should be securely fastened in an appropriate safety seat in the back of the vehicle until they reach the age of 13.¹

State and national data support TxDOT’s Click It or Ticket campaign, which focuses on enforcing laws mandating that everyone in the vehicle is buckled up.

If that’s not enough, these facts will drive home the importance of everyone buckling up at all times:

Unbelted backseat passengers can become projectiles in a crash. They can be tossed around inside the vehicle and can even injure or kill people in the front seat.
In 2022, there were 3,357 motor vehicle traffic crashes in Texas that involved unrestrained occupants who sustained fatal or serious injuries.²
In 2022, of the 550 pickup truck drivers killed in Texas in a crash, 284 were not wearing a seat belt.³
Wearing a seat belt helps keep occupants from being ejected in a crash and increases the chances of surviving by 45%. In pickup trucks, that number jumps to 60%.⁴

#EndTheStreakTX

¹(NHTSA’s Car Seat Recommendations for Children)

²(Represents reportable data collected from the Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report (CR-3) received and processed by TxDOT as of March 6, 2023)

³Ibid.

⁴(NHTSA Seat Belt Statistics)

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