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"Click It or Ticket" 2014 Campaign Kickoff
Atrium Medical Center’s Warren County Safe Communities Coalition (WCSCC) announces the kickoff of the 2014 “Click it or Ticket” campaign in Warren County. This campaign and mobilization is a nationwide effort, coordinated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with a primary goal of increasing seatbelt use and raising awareness. WCSCC will be teaming up with local law enforcement and traffic safety partners to promote the click it or ticket campaign and crack down on motorists who are not buckling up.
The mobilization focuses campaign efforts through high visibility enforcement by local police and public awareness efforts through coalition activities. Joey Brumfield, Program Coordinator for Warren County Safe Communities and Trauma Outreach Coordinator at Atrium Medical Center states “It is our responsibility as a coalition to promote seatbelt use and reduce the amount of preventable injuries and deaths in Warren County.”
For any information on the campaign, or to request banners or promotional materials, contact Joey Brumfield, Program Coordinator and Trauma Outreach Coordinator at (513)-705-4713.
The “Click it or Ticket” campaign officially “kicks-off” on Monday May 19th and continues through June 1st. Warren County Safe Communities Coalition will be holding their annual “kick off” event on Wednesday, May 21st at Little Miami High School. The event will be a partnered event with local law enforcement in which students will be handed a campaign card along with a “Dum Dum” sucker if they are not wearing a seatbelt or a “Smartie” if they are wearing a seatbelt. This blitz will take place as students are leaving school grounds for the day. This event is designed to not only promote the campaign and mobilization, but also to raise awareness of the importance of wearing a seatbelt. The event will begin at 1:40 P.M.
According to the CDC, seatbelt use reduces the risk for serious injury and death during a crash by more than 50%. Over the past two years, over 60% of all motor vehicle occupants killed in motor vehicle crashes in Warren County were not wearing a seatbelt. In 2012 alone, over 13,000 lives may have been saved across the nation if they would have simply buckled up. “Not only are there legal ramifications for not wearing a seatbelt, but it is proven that seatbelts do save lives,” says Brumfield. From 2008 to 2012, it is estimated that nearly 63,000 lives were saved across America because of buckling up.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in those ages 5-34. Motor vehicle crashes are also the second highest mechanism for traumatic injury treated at Atrium Medical Center. In 2013, nearly 50% or half of trauma patients treated at Atrium who were involved in motor vehicle crashes were not wearing seatbelts. Not only is this further evidence of the importance of proper restraint use, but also of the imperative need for continued seatbelt awareness through campaign efforts such as click it or ticket.