TDS and McAllen High School say “Click it or Ticket”

The annual Click it or Ticket campaign continued across the state, as it made its way to McAllen, Texas on April 25. Teens in the Driver Seat and McAllen High School students were there to spread the message that this year Texas state troopers and your local police and sheriff’s departments will be keeping a close eye on you.

Click it or Ticket has been an important safety program by the Texas Department of Transportation for nearly 10 years, but this is the first year that teen drivers and passengers are a really big deal. And that’s important, for lots of reasons.

• More than half of the young drivers killed in crashes were not wearing safety belts when they crashed.
• Car crashes kill more young people than any other cause.
• Only one out of every five teenagers thinks that not wearing a safety belt is risky, and most of them admit that most of the time, they don’t buckle up.

Representing Teens in the Driver Seat, Kylie Kinsolving and Crawford Higgins spoke to McAllen High School students at the Click it or Ticket press conference and talked about why TDS is important to them and how the program can help save lives with important messages about buckling up.

“The bottom line is that Teens in the Driver Seat is about saving lives,” the students said. “And one of the ways to start is to use your safety belt.”

At the same press conference, McAllen Police Corporal Mike Zamora reminded teenagers that they had extra reasons to buckle up this year. Troopers will be handing out McDonald’s free food coupons to young drivers and passengers who are wearing safety belts. Also, you can download free music just by watching a 2-minute safety belt video at www.clickitorticketmusic.com.

Free food…free music…not to mention staying safe. That’s a lot of good reasons to Click it!