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Driver fails to buckle up and faces "Click It or Ticket" campaign

Andy Foote too often has heard the excuse from accident victims not wearing their seat belts: "I was just going to the grocery store."

That is, if they live to talk about it, said Foote, the city of Beaumont's Emergency Medical Services manager.

Foote said most motorists wear their belts while traveling on a highway but are neglectful on those short jaunts.

It's those absent-minded motorists - as well as any others in Texas negligent about wearing their belts or properly restraining their children - that are part of a nationwide law-enforcement focus until June 1. The effort - as part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Click It or Ticket campaign - kicked off Monday.

Accident statistics for Southeast Texas show that peace officers might have their work cut out for them here.

For example, about a third of those who died in traffic accidents in Jefferson County in 2006 were not wearing seat belts, national traffic statistics show. The figure was 50 percent in Hardin County and 63 percent in Jasper County.

In Texas, 44 percent of auto accident fatalities were not wearing seat belts. Nationwide, 55 percent of those killed in auto accidents weren't wearing seat belts.

Stephanie Davis, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, emphasized that seat belts and child restraints can't prevent all traffic fatalities.

However, the number of people who die in traffic accidents is cut nearly in half when seat belts are properly used, Davis said.

Texas law states that everyone in the front seat of a vehicle must wear a safety belt.

The law also requires that all children 17 and younger be secured by a seat belt or child safety seat, regardless of where they are sitting. Also, children younger than 5 years old and less than 36 inches tall must ride in child safety seats.

Seat-belt law violators face a $200 fine plus court fees.

More than 91 percent of Texas drivers use their seat belts, according to 2007 data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report.

The Texas Transportation Institute estimates that 87 percent of passengers use seat belts, according to a Texas Department of Transportation news release.

Since the Click It or Ticket campaign was first launched in Texas in 2002, safety belt use among Texas drivers has increased from 76 percent, state officials said in a news release.

Davis said passengers and children are a focus of this year's seat-belt campaign.

In Southeast Texas, the percentage of fatal accidents in which seat belts were not used is higher in rural areas, the 2006 national statistics show.

Davis said because rural traffic flow is lighter than it is in the big city, some motorists think they are not at risk.

"They think, 'There's nobody out here, so it won't happen to me,'" she said. "They think, 'I'm just going down to the neighbor's.'"

Sgt. Jason Plunkett, Beaumont Police Department traffic unit supervisor, said some people don't understand the realities of physics when it comes to being in an accident.

"People that are wearing seat belts are much less likely to be ejected out of a windshield," Plunkett said.

Foote said almost every paramedic or peace officer has worked an accident in which a child was ejected and died because he or she was improperly restrained.

"Unfortunately, we're the ones who get to see the mistakes," he said. "Those accidents are really hard on my people. Those are the ones you don't ever forget."

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