The single most effective thing you can do to survive a traffic crash is wear your seat belt.  Nearly one in four Missourians fail to regularly wear their safety belts when driving or riding in a motor vehicle. The St. Charles Police will team up with law enforcement May 19 through June 1 for an aggressive national “Click It or Ticket” mobilization to crack down on Missouri’s safety belt violators and reduce highway fatalities.

Wearing a seat belt greatly increases yours odds of surviving a traffic crash. If you are in a crash you have a 1 in 32 chance of being killed when not wearing a safety belt. Wearing the seat belt changes that to 1 in 1,309. Among those least likely to buckle up: young males, pickup truck drivers and their passengers, and nighttime drivers.  

Sergeant Michael Gravemann says “Seat belts save lives, unfortunately too many people still need a stiff reminder to buckle up. The police department will be out in force buckling down on those who refuse to buckle up.” Funding is provided by the Missouri Safety Center in Warrensburg, Missouri. For more on Missouri seat belt usage, visit www.saveMOlives.com.