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SALT LAKE CITY -- Ten years ago, Utah law enforcement agencies started telling drivers to "Click it or Ticket." Monday, the agencies held a press conference to celebrate the anniversary milestone and explain why the campaign been so successful.
Seat belts have saved an estimated 1,246 lives in the past decade in Utah. - UHP
"Calvin was not wearing his seat belt and was thrown from the car, and died immediately at the scene," explained Donna Hansen, whose son was killed in a car accident.
It was hard not to listen to Donna's story at a press conference in Sandy Monday. It was held to get the word out about the Click it or Ticket campaign.
"We were headed to [Las] Vegas, and our car ran off the highway and flipped three times. Everyone but Calvin was wearing their seat belt," Donna said.
• Young people ages 15 to 24 years old were reported to have the lowest observed seat belt usage rate of any other age group across the nation. In Utah, 1 out of 2 young drivers and their passengers killed in crashes were NOT buckled up at the time of the crash.
• Nighttime driving is much more dangerous than daytime driving and seat belt use at night is lower. In Utah, people in crashes during the nighttime hours of 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. were 2.4 times less likely to wear a seat belt than people in crashes during the rest of the day.
Source: Utah Highway Patrol
It's deaths like Calvin's that the UHP and other Utah law enforcement agencies want to prevent with the Click it or Ticket campaign.
The Utah Department of Public Safety says seat belt use has gone up nearly 20 percent since the campaign launched a decade ago. That means about 500,000 more motorists are buckling up.
"For the next week, law enforcement is encouraged to go out and focus on seat belt and occupant restraint enforcement," said Lance Davenport, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety.
A demonstration used at Monday's event showed that even at slow speeds, you should wear a seat belt.
"I would have probably hit the front if I hadn't had the belt on," Amy Dastrup said.
"It's pretty jarring. It's amazing; this is just 5 miles an hour. I can't imagine how bad this would be at 55 to 65 miles an hour," Brent Wilhite said.
That's about the speed Donna and her family was going when their vehicle rolled. Donna now shares the story about her son's death to get others to buckle up, and she says it's working.
"His friend mentioned they wear their seat belts now, and I'm glad to hear that," she said.
In Utah, if you are under 19 years old, you can be pulled over and ticketed for not wearing a seat belt. Over 19, and it's a secondary offense, meaning you have to get pulled over for something else first.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
