Forget This One Thing and Be Fined $200 or More
More than three million Texans are going to be traveling for the Memorial Day weekend, and it may feel like every one of them is in front of you on I-20. There will be enough road stress, so do yourself a favor and avoid the hassle of getting fined two hundred bucks on top of it.
Police across Texas kicked off the Click it or Ticket campaign on Monday, which means just about every law enforcement agency is watching for that seat belt strap going across your shoulder, and making sure you and your passengers are in tight. State and local police, and county sheriff's offices are all part of the effort to enforce seat belt laws through the Memorial Day weekend.
It's a huge travel weekend, with 42 million Americans hitting the road and 3 million of us in Texas. How many of those drivers will be buckled up? We don't know for sure, but we know you always have that seat belt on so we know you'll avoid the fine and we're not worried about you. It's those other drivers...
Police say that wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of dying in a crash by 45 percent. That number jumps to 60 percent for pickup trucks, and we all know we have an abundance of those on the roads because this is Texas. For goodness sakes, click it.
We've got to make sure the kids are buckled up too, and sometimes there is confusion over that child safety seat rule. Here's the deal. Kids younger than 8 years old have to be in a child safety seat or booster seat unless they are taller than 4 feet 9 inches.
Fines start at $200 for not buckling up, and if it's a child safety seat violation the fines could be $250 plus court costs. That's a lot of burger, brisket, beer, and gas money, and Memorial Day Weekend will be more fun if you can spend your cash on that stuff instead.
The Click it or Ticket campaign runs through Sunday, June 3rd. Just get where you're going safely, and then go wild, okay? Have a great holiday.