First Line of Defense
National Workers’ Memorial Day on April 28 is a time to remember those lost or injured on the job and to advocate for safer workplaces. Safety leaders play a critical role in protecting employees – not just in the workplace but also on the road. Seat belt safety is a simple yet effective way to reduce injuries and fatalities in crashes, including those caused by impaired driving, distracted driving and speeding.
Click It or Ticket: Buckle Up for Safety
While the national seat belt use rate for drivers and front-seat passengers has remained steady in the U.S., ranging from a low of about 88% to a high of about 92%, evidence suggests a slight decline occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic due to factors like reduced traffic enforcement and changes in driving habits.
Let’s work to get back on track. One way: Support the national Click It or Ticket campaign May 12 to June 1. The campaign is led by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to ensure drivers and passengers always buckle up.
- Why it matters: Since its inception 23 years ago, NHTSA estimates Click It or Ticket efforts have saved more than 8,000 lives in Texas, prevented more than 140,000 serious injuries and saved Texans nearly $42 billion in crash-related economic costs
- Law enforcement involvement: Patrols and citations for seat belt violations have increased
- Targeted messaging: Young adults ages 18 to 34 and men are less likely to wear seat belts
The Power of Seat Belts in Preventing Tragedies
Drivers who don’t consistently wear seat belts are three times more likely to drive impaired, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- In Texas, more than 1,000 people were killed in crashes where a driver was under the influence of alcohol in 2023, according to the Texas Department of Transportation, and nearly half (48.9%) of people killed in crashes across the state were reported as not restrained when the fatal crash occurred
Seat Belt Effectiveness
Get free resources from NHTSA to share and work to ensure everyone you know is buckled up properly. Here are three main points to emphasize:
- Seat belts reduce front-seat car occupant deaths by about 45% and light-truck occupant deaths by about 60%
- Seat belts prevent ejection from vehicle – a leading cause of fatal injuries
- Seat belts work with airbags to provide maximum protection
Influence Beyond the Workplace
Encouraging seat belt use doesn’t just impact employees – it trickles down into homes and communities. By promoting seat belt safety at work, employers can help instill safe driving habits that protect employees, their family members, friends and loved ones.
This Workers’ Memorial Day, let’s honor workers by reinforcing a culture of safety – on and off the job. Buckle up. Every seat. Every time.
Be the Difference
Please join us on National Heatstroke Prevention Day May 1 and work to prevent child hot-car tragedies by raising awareness of safety risks. What does workplace safety have to do with child hot-car incidents? Well, more than you might think.
Nearly one-quarter of hot car deaths involving children occur in workplace parking lots — at daycare centers, big-box stores and corporate offices. Often, a change in a morning drop-off routine or driver distraction leads to a sleeping infant being left behind in a vehicle. In fact, more than 50% of pediatric vehicular heatstroke cases involve a forgotten child, according to data tracked by Jan Null, a certified consulting meteorologist and adjunct professor at San Jose State University.
Null publishes his research on noheatstroke.org. His data shows more children have died in hot cars in Texas than any other state in the U.S.
Free Training: Children in Hot Cars
The National Safety Council offers a free online course, Children in Hot Cars, available in both English and Spanish. This 15-minute training is ideal for:
- Parents and caregivers
- Organizations transporting children
- Healthcare providers and first responders
- Safety advocates involved in car seat distribution programs
- Individuals training to become child passenger safety technicians
- Drivers ticketed for child passenger safety violations who enter court diversionary programs
For group delivery, you can enroll your entire team and monitor progress. To set up a group, complete this Group Delivery of Courses Request Form.
Get Free Resources
Make plans now to participate in this annual safety observance. Use these free resources:
- Safety Tips for Parking Lots, Hot Cars and Distraction
- Awareness is the Key: Distraction is Deadly
- By the Numbers
- YouTube Videos
- Fact Sheet
Take Action and Save Lives
Download more free resources from the National Safety Council and its partner agencies to support heatstroke prevention efforts. Two key points to remember:
- Children are more vulnerable to heatstroke
- Hot car deaths are preventable
Your leadership and willingness to share this information will elevate you as a safety ambassador in your community and, more importantly, could save a child’s life.