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'Click It or Ticket' Photo Op Leaves Onlookers Hanging

Raising awareness for auto safety, seatbelts were used to hoist a truck in Downtown Austin.
Photo by Jillian Schantz Patrick
Raising awareness for auto safety, seatbelts were used to hoist a truck in Downtown Austin.

In recent years, cranes have become an integral part of the Austin skyline. But it's not very often you see one suspend a pickup truck by seatbelts. 

This morning, the Texas Department of Transportation did just that as part of a demonstration to show the strength and power of seatbelts. 

The Click it Or Ticket campaign will stretch from May 21 to June 3 as an attempt to bring awareness and enforcement to the state seatbelt laws. Current law requires that every person in the vehicle must be secured by a seatbelt whether in the front or back seat.

Carol Rawson, TxDOT’s Traffic Operations division director, told reporters that law enforcement around the state will be more focused on ticketing motorists who are not wearing seatbelts.

“Obviously seatbelts save lives,” she said. “There comes a point when it isn’t about education. It is about enforcement.”

A seatbelt violation can potential cost around $250 between fines and court fees. 

TheClick It or Ticket campaign, in its 11th year, serves as a reminder to the importance of wearing a safety belt. Out of the roughly 3,000 fatal motor collisions in Texas last year, over 45% of those killed were not wearing a seatbelt.