Pennington County, SD – The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, South Dakota Department of Public Safety-Office of Highway Safety and U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) urge drivers to buckle up ahead of a national Click It or Ticket seat belt safety campaign. The national high-visibility seat belt enforcement effort, which coincides with the Memorial Day holiday, runs May 19 to June 1, 2025.
“Seat belt use should be an automatic habit for drivers and passengers alike,” says Patrol Lieutenant Casey Kenrick. “It’s not just a safe thing to do—it’s the law. During the Click It or Ticket campaign, we’ll be working with our fellow law enforcement officers across local and state lines to ensure the message gets out to drivers and passengers. Buckling up is the simplest thing a driver can do to limit injury or save a life during a crash. We see the results of not wearing a seat belt all the time. So often, it could have been prevented.”
The national seat belt daytime use rate in 2023 was 91.9%, which is good, but could be better. The other 8.1% still need to be reminded that seat belts save lives. Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night.
One of the focuses of the Click It or Ticket seat belt high-visibility campaign is nighttime enforcement. NHTSA data shows a higher number of unrestrained passenger vehicle occupant fatalities happen at night. Seat belt use also differs among females and males. Of the males killed in crashes in 2023, more than half (53%) were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 41% were not buckled up.
In South Dakota, in 2024 over 57% of fatalities were unrestrained. 63% of young adults (age 14-20) killed in crashes were completely unrestrained. 73% of the fatalities were men; 27% were women. 63% of men killed in crashes were unrestrained compared to 40% of women killed in crashes.
If the enforcement effort alerts people to the dangers of unrestrained driving, we will consider our mission to be a success. Help us spread this lifesaving message before one more friend or family member is killed because of this senseless inaction. Seat belts save lives, and everyone — front seat and back, child and adult — needs to remember to buckle up.
For more information on the Click It or Ticket seat belt high-visibility enforcement campaign, please visit NHTSA.gov/ClickIt and https://drivesafesd.com The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office does not collect warrants or fines over the phone. An individual would be asked to settle a warrant fee in person.ng to be with the Warrants Division, making phone calls demanding money.
