Seatbelts and Car Seats

Each year in Colorado, nearly 180 people are killed in traffic crashes because they weren’t buckled up or properly restrained in a child safety seat. In order to save more lives on Colorado roadways, CDOT’s Office of Transportation Safety and Public Relations Office partners with law enforcement agencies, community coalitions and other safety advocates to educate the public about Colorado’s seat belt laws and the importance of wearing seat belts every trip, every time.

Child Passenger Safety Law Changes – Effective August 1, 2010
Colorado’s child passenger safety law has expanded to require that all child passengers under age 8 be protected using a child safety seat. That means more kids need to be in booster seats. There are other changes to the law that give parents more flexibility in choosing the appropriate child safety seat that is best for their child, but it does set some minimum requirements. Visit www.carseatscolorado.com for information.

Click It or Ticket

Click It or Ticket is a nationwide campaign from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Since Click It or Ticket started in Colorado in 2002 seat belt use in Colorado has increased from 72% to 81% – That's roughly 270,000 more people buckling up in our state!

With federal funding from NHTSA, CDOT and local law enforcement agencies conduct periodic high-visibility seat belt enforcement waves throughout the year in an effort to save lives and increase belt use on Colorado roadways. Here are the results of the 2010 Click It or Ticket enforcement campaigns:

Click It or Ticket Enforcement, May 24 - June 6, 2010
May Mobilization – May 24 – June 6, 2010 – Colorado law enforcement agencies joined the rest of the country for a national Click It or Ticket Mobilization.  The Colorado State Patrol and more than 100 law enforcement agencies across the state issued 10,283 seat belt citations.

During the campaign, Coloradans were called to take the "2-Second, 2-Week Start the Habit Challenge"  to start a habit that will continue for a lifetime.  In 2009, 175 people who weren't buckled up were killed in traffic crashes on Colorado roadways.  If all of them had buckled up, nearly half of the victims should have lived.

Mayors in six Colorado towns and cities took up this important challenge to save lives in their communities.  Proclamations were signed in Denver, Montrose, Pueblo, Grand Junction, Colorado Springs and Greeley.  Banners and giant seat belts went up to remind everyone about the importance of buckling up.

Click It or Ticket Results
During Click It or Ticket enforcement periods in 2009, cops wrote 17,205 seat belt tickets.  They also captured 140 fugitives, made 309 DUI arrests, 131 drug arrests and recovered 8 stolen vehicles. You can check out results of past and present enforcement periods by clicking here.

Nighttime Click It or Ticket – April 1-7, 2010 - A special nighttime Click It or Ticket enforcement took place April 1-7 in Colorado’s 11 most populated counties.  Agencies in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, Mesa, Pueblo and Weld counties worked overtime between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. each night to enforce traffic laws.  During this wave, cops wrote 2,663 seat belt tickets.

Rural Click It or Ticket - Feb. 18-24, 2010 – Seat belt use in Colorado’s rural areas is much lower than more populated counties.  To improve rural seat belt use and reduce fatalities, law enforcement agencies in 30 rural counties participated in a rural Click It or Ticket enforcement period, Feb. 18-24th.  The Colorado State Patrol and law enforcement agencies in the following counties received funding to conduct the overtime seat belt enforcement: Alamosa, Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Delta, Elbert, Fremont, Garfield, Grand, Gunnison, Huerfano, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Logan, Mesa, Moffat, Montezuma, Montrose, Morgan, Otero, Ouray, Phillips, Prowers, Routt, Washington, and Yuma counties. The enforcement resulted in 2,147 seat belt tickets.