The Ohio Traffic Safety Office (OTSO), a division of The Ohio Department of Public Safety, is urging drivers to buckle up during the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) national Click It or Ticket high-visibility enforcement effort.
The seat belt campaign, which coincides with the Memorial Day holiday, runs through June 2, 2024.
Ohio’s annual observational seat belt survey, conducted by OTSO showed the statewide seat belt compliance rate increased slightly from 80.8% in 2022 to 84.8% in 2023. Ohio remains below the national seat belt use rate of 91.9%.
The state’s 2023 seat belt survey also revealed that:
- Ohio drivers are less likely to wear their seat belts when traveling on local roads.
- Males are less likely to buckle up than women.
- Younger occupants aged 15-25 years have the lowest usage rate of 81%.
- Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night. In Ohio, a seat belt violation results in a $30 fine for a driver and $20 for a passenger. It’s considered a nonmoving violation, meaning a driver won’t get any points on their driving record. It will show up on a driver abstract, which means their auto insurance company could be notified about it.
As summer is here, Sheriff Randy Dodds talks about why you should wear your seatbelt and reminds you to move over:
