Click It or Ticket campaign begins May 24th through June 6th

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Colorado Department of Transportation, Colorado State Patrol, and 43 local law enforcement agencies across the state are about to begin the largest seat belt enforcement period of the year.

The Click It or Ticket campaign begins Monday, May 24, and will run through Sunday, June 6. CDOT says this campaign comes right before the "100 deadly days of summer," which historically marks an increase in traffic fatalities between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

"This campaign reminds drivers and passengers to make safety their number one priority by buckling up every trip, no matter the distance,” said Chief Matthew Packard, Colorado State Patrol. "We don't give warnings if we pull someone over without a seatbelt - our goal is to save lives. So if you choose not to take your safety very seriously as we do, we will issue you a ticket."

In 2020, 612 people, including pedestrians, were killed on Colorado roads. Of those killed, 365 were in passenger vehicles, and 203, or 56%, were unbuckled at the time of the crash.

"In 2020, traffic fatalities were up three percent despite far fewer people on the road,” said CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew. “More than half of those lost on our roads were not wearing their seatbelts. We know that seatbelts save lives and we implore Coloradans to make the safe choice and buckle up.”

According to Colorado Springs police, 2020 was the deadliest traffic year for the city of Colorado Springs. The previous record of fatalities was 48 deaths in 2018. Last year topped that number with 50 traffic fatalities.

Out of the 50 traffic fatalities in Colorado Springs, police say three were bicycle-related, 12 pedestrian-related, 15 motorcycle-related, and 20 automobile-related.

Since 2017, 99 fatalities in El Paso County involved unbuckled drivers and passengers.

In 2020, El Paso County had a total of 25 unbuckled fatalities, accounting for 58% of the 43 total passenger vehicle deaths in the county.

This was the highest yearly increase of unbuckled fatalities out of any Colorado county, from 15 in 2019 to 25 in 2020, a 66% increase.

However, overall CDOT says El Paso County seatbelt use was at 87% for 2020, which is slightly above the statewide average of 86.3%. That's 4% lower than the national average of 90%. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seat belts reduce the risk of injury or death in a crash by 50%.

During the most recent Click It or Ticket enforcement period in November 2020, 1,352 unrestrained drivers and passengers were issued citations across Colorado.

Fines for not buckling up in Colorado start at $65, and parents or caregivers caught with an improperly restrained child can receive a minimum fine of $82.

Below are Colorado's seat belt laws:

• Adults: Colorado has a secondary enforcement law for adult drivers and front-seat passengers. Drivers can be ticketed for violating the seat belt law if they are stopped for another traffic violation.
• Teens: Colorado's Graduated Drivers Licensing (GDL) law requires all drivers under 18 and their passengers, regardless of their age, to wear seat belts. This is a primary enforcement, meaning teens can be pulled over simply for not wearing a seat belt or having passengers without seat belts.
• Children: Colorado's Child Passenger Safety law is a primary enforcement, meaning the driver can be stopped and ticketed if an officer sees an unrestrained or improperly restrained child under age 16 in the vehicle.

According to CDOT, 30 children from infants to age 8 were killed in passenger vehicle crashes in Colorado between 2013 and 2017. More than half were in an improperly used or installed car seat or no car seat at all.

Parents and caregivers can learn more about Colorado child passenger safety laws, recommendations, and recalls by clicking here.

CDOT says the Click It or Ticket campaign is meant to encourage people to buckle up to avoid a citation, but more importantly, to get home safely to their loved ones.