Continuing the trucking industry's call for strong, visible enforcement of the nation's traffic laws, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) today announced its support for this week's nationwide Click It or Ticket campaign (11-25/12-1).

Click It or Ticket is the largest-ever coordinated effort by law enforcement to crack down on drivers who don't buckle their seat belts. Overall, 12,000 law enforcement agencies in 50 states will participate.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sponsor the safety effort.
"The trucking industry has long recognized the safety benefits of using seat belts in motor vehicles," said William Canary, ATA president and CEO. "We have provided them for our drivers since long before regulations required us to do so. It just makes sense that we insist on enforcement of seat belt laws for all drivers and passengers as a way to reduce the human and financial costs of highway accidents.
"We agree that stepped up, high-visibility enforcement campaigns like Click It or Ticket are a proven method to change behavior," Canary added. "This campaign melds perfectly with our call for a crackdown on speeding as well. Speed-related crashes cost over 12,000 lives a year. If we're successful in getting everyone to buckle up and to slowdown, then we will have made a major leap toward improving highway safety for all motorists. This is critical to us as the highways are where we go to work every day."
According to NHTSA, the Click It or Ticket campaign in May 2002 showed an increase in seat belt use from 73% to 75%. Based on these figures, NHTSA estimates that an additional 3.6 million people buckled up, potentially saving up to 670 more lives each year.