>>> Good morning.
I'm Dr. Steve Cliff, deputy administrator of the national highway traffic safety administration. Thank you for joining us for the launch of our annual click it or ticket campaign.
When normal life came to a halt in March 2020 many expected traffic fatalities to decline as more people stayed home.
Instead, we saw the opposite.
Risky driving behavior sky rocketed and traffic fatalities spiked.
Sadly, these trends continued throughout 2021.
We are planning to release our 2021 preliminary early estimates next week.
While I'm not able to provide you with exact numbers today what I can tell you is the projected increases are alarming.
And that action is needed now.
We need everyone state and local governments, safety advocates, automakers and drivers to join us in doing their part to stop the carnage on our roads.
All of our lives depend on it.
There's never been a more important time than now for our traffic safety campaigns.
Today we're asking for your support for our annual click it or ticket campaign.
In 2020 almost 11,000 people who died on our nation's roads were not wearing a seatbelt.
And we are projecting an increase in 2021 of unbelted occupant fatalities.
As the weather gets warmer and families hit the road for summer vacations, we want everyone to know every trip must start with a buckled seatbelt.
That includes short trips, too.
Our data show that there's no such thing as a quick trip down the street when it comes to wearing a seatbelt and choosing not to can have deadly consequences.
Seatbelts save lives, best defense in a crash.
Our goal is to see every driver and passenger take this message to heart and make the right choice every time.
The campaign we're kicking off May 23rd that runs through June 5th reminds drivers of this life saving message and the consequences they'll face by choosing to break the law by driving unbuckled.
Our $10 million national paid media campaign features TV, radio and digital ads in English and Spanish.
Our focus is on drivers aged 18 to 34 who according to our data are less likely to buckle up consistently.
Our law enforcement partners will also be reminding drivers and passengers of the importance of wearing a seatbelt.
Partnerships with law enforcement and the advocacy community are important and equity is always front and center in those conversations.
It's important for the public to be able to trust that law enforcement will treat them fairly regardless of their background, ethnicity, race gender or sexual orientation.
We are pleased to have a great group of speakers with us today.
To our partners from the Maryland transportation authority police and Bethesda Chevy Chase Maryland rescue squad, thank you for your work to help save lives.
Our first speaker is Mischelle Miller, a mother of three who has been through every parents' worst nightmare but she and her family are working through their grief to help others.
After her oldest daughter Megan was killed in a crash, Mischelle created the buckle up for Megan campaign to encourage seatbelt use in her home state of Kentucky.
The Miller family shared their message through billboards and TV ads with the goal of saving other families from the pain that they have endured.
Mischelle and her family are recipients of the drive smart Kentucky highway safety award and NHTSA's public service award. Mischelle, the floor is yours.
>> Thank you Dr. Cliff. Good morning. I want to talk to you about Megan and the importance of seatbelt safety.
I want to talk about the day it happened, what we have done as the result of what has happened in our family.
How we turned a tragedy into something positive.
Let me talk about Megan first.
If I can make it this.
She loved her church, her school. She loved life looking forward to her senior year.
She was signed up for cosmetology school, couldn't wait to cut hair. She was your typical 17-year-old.
She worked at dairy queen and was very responsible.
Megan was involved in a car wreck March 19th, 2006.
She was on her way home from school -- I'm sorry.
From church.
Her and her sister were on their way home and just listening to music.
Didn't really have a care in the world.
Actually they were going to get her brother a birthday present.
He was turning 16 the next day.
Her car started to swerve.
She overcorrected and she was ejected.
She wasn't wearing her seatbelt.
I don't know why that day she wasn't.
She always wore her seatbelt.
She wouldn't go from store to store with her friends without saying we're not going until you're seatbelted.
So it's a shock she wasn't wearing it.
One month after her accident, we started a buckle up for Megan campaign.
We reached out to the high school.
We gave out stickers that said buckle up in memory of Megan.
And just one month after we gave out the stickers one of her friends Lindsey was in a car accident.
And she was saved because she had her seatbelt on.
Her mom called me thanking me for the efforts that were put through that it did make a difference that it saved her daughter's life.
From then we went on to opening up a club at the high school.
It was just called the buckle up club.
We had seatbelt checks.
We did just information, gave out information about seatbelt safety.
How to keep everyone safe.
We also put up billboards like he said.
We sold T-shirts that said buckle up for Megan on them and funded those billboards, an effort to get the message out.
So we have turned a tragedy into something positive to get that message out.
I didn't want anyone to go through what we went through as far as the pain of losing a child and we just wanted to make a difference and leave a legacy for Megan.
So like he said, even the short trips, no matter what, put your seatbelt on.
It will save your life.
Thank you.
>> Thank you for joining us today Mischelle. I'm very sorry for your lost.
Our next speaker is colonel Kevin Anderson a highway safety officer Maryland with the Maryland transportation authority and rose through the anxious.
Previously serving as chief of the operations bureau before coming chief of police in 2020.
He is also the chairman of Maryland's distracted driver emphasis area team and an executive board member of the traffic safety specialist committee for the Maryland highway safety office.
Colonel Anderson welcome and thank you for joining us.
>> Good morning Dr. Cliff.
Thanks everybody for allowing us to join from law enforcement's perspective as Dr. Cliff said, just over 28 and a half years of service in this profession I can tell you every time I hear a story such as Mischelle's it breaks my heart to know the number one thing we do from law enforcement's perspective, education, prevention and just citizens in general is buckle upper single time.
It's such an easy thing to do.
Doesn't matter what vehicle you're driving day or night.
What seating position.
If you wear a seatbelt, I guarantee over 28 and a half years we're going to save your life or if you're injured it's going to be much less, will not be as severe.
That's just the number one thing out there.
I would rather my officers spend time educating the community, engaging with them.
Talking about the proactive reasons why we should wear seatbelts instead of enforcing.
But we know we're committed to doing that enforcement and we will issue citations and educate through that means.
Even in Maryland we have a very high percentage of seatbelt usage, over 91% which is fantastic.
But it's still not 100%.
Until we get there we have a lot of work and we'll continue to do that.
I know it's already been said.
The most easiest thing we can do, it's just so simple.
Buckle your seatbelt up every position.
Thank you for letting us be a part of this and we'll continue to do our part to educate those in our public that need to be safe on our highways.
Thank you.
>> Colonel Anderson thank you for sharing your perspective and we appreciate the work you're doing.
Our last speaker is Udana Torian. Udana has been a member of the Bethesda Chevy chase rescue squad in Maryland since 2006, relocated from north Carolina in the EMS.
Udana began her emergency --
began as an emergency medical technician before completing her training.
Since then responded to many crashes and seen firsthand the consequences of not wearing a seatbelt.
Udana, welcome.
>> Thank you. Despite evolving advances it is still seatbelts that prove pivotal in saving lives, reducing preventable mortality is clear.
Preventable accidental death plagues the U.S. and even in the context of modern pandemics, advances in medical trauma treatment and safety feature engineering for passenger vehicles, the numbers of fatalities continue to increase.
So the need for awareness and safe practices is ever present.
As a volunteer paramedic firefighter with over 20 years experience, I can attest to that being firsthand.
Data is crucial to understanding trends and phenomenon but visualizing the human toll anchors the urgency in continuing to address the dangers of high risk behavior such as not using seatbelts.
One incident in particular illustrates how impactful a safety decision can be.
I responded to a rollover collision on the beltway here in the DMV.
There are two occupants of this particular vehicle, the driver and an infant.
Both survived the accident and prevented severe injury likely solely due to both being restrained.
The driver by a properly worn seatbelt and the child by properly installed child seat.
This safety decision by the adult prevented tragedy.
The safety decisions affect all involved.
The aftermath of poor decisions not only cause loss and hardship of victims but also first responders such as myself as well.
The trauma that providers suffer goes to that human toll.
Debriefings that happen formally or informally in personal conversations with colleagues points to the impact from responders responding to accidents resulting in fatalities that may have been preventable.
The message of safety has to be deafening.
Many take for granted the risk involved when we are behind the wheel or a passenger.
It doesn't matter if it's a five minute trip to the store around the corner from your home or ride share through the city, seatbelt usage is crucial.
Firehouses across the nation hold open houses with demos and information tables to increase safety awareness.
These messages can't be limited to an open house though.
It has to be in schools, places of worship, shopping centers and in homes.
We all have to encourage family and friends to wear not only their seatbelts but to do so properly.
Installation of child and infant seats is also a must.
Show by example and be a voice of safety.
Thank you.
>> Udana, thank you so much for that message. I really appreciate it. Before we close I would like to preview our new powerful TV ads in English and Spanish that bring this message home.
They illustrate how failing to wear a seatbelt can change lives in an instant.
>> I thought he would be home by now but you know Jordan. One sec. Someone is at the door.
>> I'm officer Taylor. Your son, Jordon was in a crash. And has died.
>> What happened?
>> Jordan died.
He wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
He was ejected from the vehicle.
>> I don't --
>> I'm so sorry for your loss, ma'am.
>> Mom? Are you there?
Hello?
Mom?
>> I'm so sorry.
>> 19-year-old man, head, neck and back injury.
[ Speaking Non-English ]
>> There you go.
[ Speaking Non-English ]
>> You can do it.
[ Speaking Non-English ]
>> As we have heard today sharing that tragic news with a family is one of the hardest parts of the job for law enforcement and emergency responders.
No one wants to make that call or receive it.
So please remember always buckle up because your life could depend on it.
With that, I want to thank our speakers and conclude today's events.
Thank you very much for everyone who participated today, to our audience and others who helped us with this campaign.
For the members of the media in attendance, please e-mail NHTSA media@DOT.gov if you have questions. That's NTSA media, NHTSA media@DOT.gov. Thank you so much and stay safe.