Dear Editor,
In Wisconsin last year approximately four out of five motorists buckled-up—which is an all-time high for our state. But that’s hardly a cause for congratulations or celebration. Our state’s safety belt use rate of 79 percent still lags behind the national average of 85 percent and is far behind our neighbors, like Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan, which have rates of more than 90 percent. These statistics would not be so significant if they were not a matter of life or death.
Too many people, especially teenagers and young adults, are ejected from a vehicle with extreme force or tossed around violently inside one during a crash because they were not wearing a safety belt. In some crashes, an unbuckled driver or passenger is launched into another occupant, causing severe or fatal injuries to both of them.
To increase safety belt use, law enforcement officers throughout Wisconsin will be patrolling city streets, rural roads, and major highways during the national Click It or Ticket mobilization from May 23 to June 5. The Click It or Ticket message is clear— whenever officers observe an unbelted driver or passenger, they will stop the vehicle and issue tickets. We need to stringently enforce the state’s mandatory safety belt law until voluntary compliance reaches 100 percent.
The ultimate goal of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and our traffic safety partners is to reduce the number of preventable traffic deaths to zero in Wisconsin. To achieve this life-saving goal, we need all of you to buckle up every time you drive or ride in a vehicle.
Mark Gottlieb, P.E.
Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
