It's the message of wearing your seat belt. And now state officials want to make sure people in trucks are also wearing the life-saving straps.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, people who drive pickup trucks are typically younger and male. Past campaigns like "Click It or Ticket" may not have reached truck drivers and that's why this "Buckle Up in Your Truck" campaign was launched.
"Pickup truck drivers and passengers tend to be younger and male, and they are not getting the message that seat belts save lives," said Carol Rawson, TxDOT's Traffic Operations Division Director. "In fact, crashes involving pickup trucks can be particularly deadly because of the tendency for the trucks to roll over and for occupants to be thrown from the vehicles unless they are buckled up."
TxDOT says crashed that involve moving pickup trucks can be especially deadly if you are not buckled up. Officials attribute lower seat belt usage in trucks because of a false sense of security in larger vehicles.
Seatbelts are life savers. If you don't believe that, listen to these statistics: Studies have shown that wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of fatal injury in passenger cars by 45 percent. In a truck, that number increases to 60 percent.
One out of every two pickup truck drivers killed in a traffic cash was not buckled up, according to TxDOT. Traffic crashes remain the leading cause of death for those between the ages of one and 44 years of age in Texas.
