Wearing your seat belt not only saves lives, it can also save you from getting a ticket.

It used to be officers could only ticket unbuckled drivers if they had been stopped for another violation. Now, you can be pulled over simply for not wearing your seat belt.

As a reminder to drivers, the annual Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement campaign will kick off across the state beginning Monday, May 20 and going through Sunday, June 2. Collier County deputies will be out patrolling and enforcing seat belt usage as well as child restraint laws.

“We want people to understand that buckling up can be the difference between life and death in a crash,” said Lt. Jeff Boyd, of the Safety & Traffic Enforcement Bureau. “Fastening your seat belt is not an option; it’s the law.”

Florida law requires drivers and passengers of all cars, pickup trucks and vans to fasten their safety belts and child restraints. That includes all passengers in the front seat and everyone under the age of 18.

The law does not apply to mail carriers, trash haulers, newspaper carriers, those with a doctor’s note or passengers riding in the rear of a recreational vehicle.

When it comes to children, Florida law requires that all under the age of 3 must be secured in a federally approved child restraint street. Kids ages 4 and 5 must be wearing either a federally approved child restraint seat or a safety belt. It’s the driver’s responsibility to buckle up children at this age.

Seat belts are credited with saving lives in serious crashes. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over 10,000 vehicle occupants who were killed in crashes during the year 2017 were not wearing their seat belts at the time.

Help keep Collier County a great place and a safe place by buckling up anytime you get in a vehicle. Click It or Ticket.