Training and Education
Community Resources: Safety Belts
Safety belt use saves lives and prevents injuries. The FHWA supports the Buckle Up America, Click it or Ticket, and the Operation ABC (America Buckles up Children) campaigns.
By focusing on effective public education, building public-private partnerships, enacting strong legislation, and sustaining high-visibility and highly-publicized law enforcement, the campaigns have increased safety belt use nationwide. Each percentage point increase in safety belt use saves about 270 lives across the Nation. It is estimated that safety belts save the lives of more than 14,000 motorists each year and save about $50 million in medical care, lost productivity, and other injury related costs nationwide.
Buckle Up America is a national campaign coordinated by NHTSA to increase the proper use of safety belts and child safety seats. The Click It or Ticket Mobilization takes place each year around the Memorial Day weekend, when thousands of law enforcement agencies in communities across the country actively enforce State safety belt laws. Coupled with paid advertising and other public education efforts, the mobilization influences people to use their seat belts.
The National Safety Council sponsors the Operation ABC Mobilization: America Buckles Up Children. During the mobilization, tens of thousands of officers step up enforcement of child restraint laws by conducting checkpoints and saturation patrols.
The Click It or Ticket Mobilization and Operation ABC are part of more comprehensive public awareness and education campaigns designed to save lives through broader use of airbags and seat belts.
FWHA Office of Safety
Seat Belt Safety Contact
(202) 366-9212
