“Click it or Ticket”: Illinois law enforcement to crack down on Front and Back Seat Belt Law violators

“Click it or Ticket” Thanksgiving Holiday Campaign Begins; Data Shows more Back Seat Passengers Need to Buckle Up

CHICAGO, IL – The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) announced that the Illinois State Police (ISP) and more than 200 local police departments will be out in full force before and during the Thanksgiving holiday to crack down on motorists not buckling their seatbelts or driving under the influence. The stepped up effort, during one of the heaviest travel seasons of the year, is a part of the national “Click It or Ticket” campaign, which is geared towards saving lives by encouraging seat belt usage by every motorist in every seating position.

This end of the year push comes as Illinois’ year-to-date motor vehicle fatalities are about 4 percent higher than this time last year, and also on the heels of data showing too few passengers are complying with the backseat belt law, enacted in 2012.

“To make zero crash fatalities a reality in Illinois, all motorists and passengers need to buckle up; particularly in the back seat where usage rates are much too low,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider. “We are encouraged that about 94 percent of drivers are buckling up, but we need to make sure all passengers and drivers are buckling up. When motorists make the decision to buckle up, they are increasing their chances of survival and decreasing the risk of being seriously injured in case of a crash.”

During the 2012 Thanksgiving holiday (from 6 p.m. on Wednesday before Thanksgiving to midnight on the Sunday following Thanksgiving), nine people died in traffic crashes on Illinois roads and 737 were injured. Of the nine individuals killed, three died in crashes where at least one driver had been drinking.

Hundreds of seat belt enforcement zones and additional patrols looking for belt law violators will take place alongside roadside safety checks and saturation patrols looking for drunk drivers in this all-out effort to save lives on Illinois roads.

“Illinois State Police are urging the motoring public to buckle up and drive responsibly when traveling during the busy holiday season,” said ISP Lieutenant Colonel Terry Lemming. “Every second counts when it comes to road safety and our officers will be enforcing all traffic laws and reminding drivers and passengers that seat belts save lives.”

In 2003, Illinois passed a “primary” belt law meaning every driver and front seat passenger could be pulled over for failing to wear a seat belt. On January 1, 2012, Illinois law was expanded to require every driver and passenger to wear seat belts regardless of where seated in the vehicle. Passage of the primary seat belt law 10 years ago has helped to increase belt use by nearly 20 percentage points, saving hundreds of lives on Illinois roads.

As of June 2013, Illinois’ overall seat belt usage rate by drivers and front-seat passengers was 93.7 percent, the highest ever. An observational survey conducted by IDOT in September 2013 shows the new law has not yet had the same effect on passengers riding in back seats with only 77.4 percent of back seat passengers wearing seat belts. Further survey data obtained in September shows the upstate counties (sample taken from DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Winnebago) have the highest back seat usage rate at 82.4 percent, followed by Cook County and the downstate counties (sample taken from Champaign, Bureau, Effingham, Rock Island, Madison and St. Clair) at approximately 77 percent.  The city of Chicago had the lowest back seat usage rate at 61.2 percent.