The ­Vidor Police Department will be mobilizing with hundreds of other law enforcement agencies throughout the state for its annual “Click It or Ticket” safety belt enforcement campaign. In Texas, the law requires everyone in a vehicle to buckle up or face fines and court costs up to $200. Children younger than 8 years must be in a child safety seat or booster seat unless they’re taller than 4 feet 9 inches. If they aren’t properly restrained, the driver faces fines up to $250 plus court costs, according to a press release from Vidor Police Department.

Seat belts save lives. Wearing a seat belt helps keep you from being ejected in a crash and increases your chances of surviving by 45 percent in a passenger vehicle and up to 60 percent in a pickup truck.

Through a grant from the Texas Department of Transportation, we will ramp up our enforcement efforts from May 22 to June 4, 2017 to ticket drivers and passengers not wearing their seat belts, especially at night.

“In my nearly 30 years in law enforcement, I have seen the tragedy of individuals choosing not to wear their seatbelts and have had the unfortunate task of telling a family that their child did not survive a traffic accident because they made a choice not to wear a seatbelt,” Vidor Police Chief Rod Carroll said. “Plain and simple: Seatbelts save lives.”

Memorial Day falls in the middle of this time period and marks the traditional start of summer, when many people take to the road to enjoy the long weekend with friends and family.   This is a perfect time of the year to encourage drivers to be safe and buckle up.