“Buckle Up in Your Truck” Campaign Shows Results

Traffic safety officials in Oklahoma are pleased with the positive impact of  the “Buckle Up in Your Truck” educational campaign.

In 2001, Oklahoma safety belt use in pickup trucks averaged 55.3%.  After five years of Click It or Ticket and three years of conducting the Buckle Up in Your Truck campaign in conjunction with May enforcement mobilizations, belt use in pickup trucks for the state now stands 75.9%, an increase of +20.6 percentage points.

“In Oklahoma, we have made significant progress in safety belt use, but we still have a way to go.  Overall safety belt use in Oklahoma was 83.7% in 2006.  Safety belt use in pickup trucks in Oklahoma was 75.9%, almost 8 percentage points below overall use.  We are hoping this will be the breakout year for increasing safety belt use in pickup trucks and all vehicles in the state,” Oklahoma Governor’s Highway Safety Representative Kaye Statton said.

National research shows that pickup trucks in fatal crashes roll over twice as often as passenger cars.  Being ejected is the most common cause of injuries and fatalities in rollover crashes.  Safety belts reduce the risk of dying in a pickup truck rollover crash by up to 80%.  In 2005, 74% of people killed in pickup trucks in Oklahoma were not wearing their safety belts.

Crash data also show that Oklahoma’s rural and farmland communities are particularly at risk for traffic deaths.  More than 70% of the state’s traffic deaths occur in rural areas, where the fatality rate per vehicle mile is nearly 3 times higher than in urban communities.

“It’s time for all drivers and passengers on Oklahoma’s rural as well as urban roads to buckle up,” Statton said.