JACKSON, Miss.- Keeping you and your family safe was the message behind today’s “Click it or Ticket” campaign. Mississippi highway safety leaders met at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum Friday morning to discuss the increase of deaths over the past couple of years from people not wearing their seat belts.
No one ever knows when a wreck is going to happen, but if it does you need to be prepared and as safe as possible. In the video above you can see the car rolling over. The passengers stay in the car because they are buckled up. As you continue to watch the video you can see the passengers thrown from the vehicle shortly after it starts rolling when they are not buckled up. A person can easily be ejected from a car when they are not wearing their seat belt resulting in much more severe injuries or even death.
Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, Albert Santa Cruz, “There is no doubt that seat belts save lives and reduces the seriousness of injuries in automobile crashes.”
Cassandra Reed, of Vicksburg, lost her 16-year-old daughter, Acasia Lee, in a car accident because she didn’t buckle up that day. In Vicksburg, the Vicksburg School District alone lost six students in car accidents from not wearing seat belts.
Reed said, “Yes, it has taken the loss of lives for me to become a more proactive parent and I refuse to let those deaths be in vein or let another child’s life slip away because I sat in the darkness of my own self-pity and did not use my voice to express how desperately and urgently we need to make sure our children are more aware of the responsibility when it comes to driving. Please let’s buckle up, let’s be safe and let’s be proactive. Click it or ticket.”
Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Myers with Mississippi Highway Patrol said, “Over the next couple of weeks our officers will be out in force to remind motorists of the importance of wearing their safety belts. The “Click it or Ticket” campaign is not about writing citations; it’s about saving lives. The summer travel season is about to begin and we want to make sure you get to your destination and return home safely. Regardless of where you’re going remember to spend a few moments to fasten your safety belts.”
Seat belt usage decreased drastically from 2012 to 2013 resulting in more fatalities on Mississippi’s highways. The 2014 “Click it or Ticket” campaign is to promote safety while operating any vehicle and to prevent more deaths. Fastening up is one of the most cost-effective methods to reduce death and injury on your roadways.
Cruz said, “The few seconds it takes to buckle your seat belt could be the difference between life and death in a crash.”
