Annual campaign highlights nighttime safety belt use

Washington – Drivers are less likely to use safety belts at night, leading to more unrestrained driving fatalities than during the daytime, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The national 2013 Click It Or Ticket campaign, which takes place May 20 to June 2, includes both daytime and nighttime safety belt checks by law enforcement. According to NHTSA, 62 percent of motorists who died in a nighttime crash in 2011 were unrestrained, compared with 43 percent who died in a daytime crash. About one-third of unrestrained occupants in a crash were ejected from the vehicle; of these, more than three-fourths died.