Johnston County is one of 25 North Carolina counties selected as a seat belt survey county to help determine North Carolina’s overall seat belt usage rate, as required by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The seat belt usage rate is one of many metrics used by the Governor Pat McCrory’s Vision Zero project which aims to save lives on North Carolina roadways. The governor’s goal is to reach zero traffic-related fatalities through coordinated agency-to-agency efforts that helps reduce risky driving behaviors by changing the overall traffic safety culture.
Surveyors will be in Johnston County throughout the month of June tracking seat belt usage among motorists. The decision on what counties to conduct surveys in was based on fatality and road segment data.
In 2015, North Carolina’s seat belt usage rate was 89.9 percent, just slightly below the national standard of 90.0 percent. Johnston County’s usage rate for drivers was 96.4 percent and 91.8 percent for passengers. North Carolina law requires that all motor vehicle passengers in both the front and back seat to buckle up.
The Click It or Ticket program, now in its 23rd year, has increased driver seat belt awareness and usage rates and reduced fatalities across North Carolina. Nearly every law enforcement agency in the state participates in the initiative and it is one of the most well-coordinated and cooperative law enforcement efforts of its kind in the nation.
Other survey counties include: Alamance, Brunswick, Buncombe, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba, Columbus, Cumberland, Davidson, Durham, Forsyth, Franklin, Gaston, Guilford, Harnett, Mecklenburg, Nash, Onslow, Robeson, Rockingham, Rowan, Sampson, Wake, Wayne.
