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Are you Virginia’s next traffic fatality? Chances are if you are a male between the ages of 18 and 34 and drive a pickup truck, you are more at risk of not surviving a traffic crash.
Studies have shown males from the ages of 18 to 34 are less likely to wear their safety belt while in a vehicle. Pickup truck drivers, particularly young males, have the lowest seat belt usage rates of all motorists in the United States than any other type of vehicle. Within this same age range in 2005, 67 percent of male drivers in passenger vehicles and 74 percent of male passengers died in crashes nationwide and were not wearing their seat belts. Another national study shows a lack of seat belt usage resulted in 68 percent of pickup truck drivers being killed in crashes and 71 percent of pickup truck passengers were killed. Beginning today, through Sunday, June 1, 2008, Virginia State Police will be joining forces with other agencies around the country to participate in the nationwide Click It or Ticket (CIOT) campaign. Over the next two weeks troopers will be on heightened alert while patrolling Virginia’s interstates and highways for individuals of all ages who fail to buckle up. Click It or Ticket is a high-visibility enforcement program designed to raise safety belt usage and save Virginians from death and serious injury on the streets and highways. “Too many motorists, especially males between the ages of 18 and 34, think of themselves as invincible when it comes to driving or riding in a vehicle,” said Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, Virginia State Police Superintendent. “The Click It or Ticket campaign is meant to save lives. A lack of seat belt use is deadly and Virginia is losing too many people in traffic crashes because of a failure to buckle up.” Virginia law states that drivers stopped for other violations can be cited if they are not buckled up. This law applies to all front seat passengers 16 years and over. The importance of occupant restraints is highlighted in Virginia’s Highway Safety Challenge. The Highway Safety Challenge is a cooperative effort between the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Virginia State Police and several other state and private traffic safety advocates. Through its five calls to action, the safety campaign challenges Virginians of all ages to make responsible driving a priority:
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