'Click it or Ticket' campaign underway

The North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program, along with state and local law enforcement agencies, gathered at the Highway Patrol Driver Training Center to announce the start of their "Click It or Ticket" campaign.

There's a barricade of orange cones and a pulley attached to a grey Dodge Ram at the training center. The Ram is connected to a Charger that reaches speeds of 50 miles per hour before it slams into a white Ford truck.

This simulation demonstrates the hazards of not wearing a seatbelt.

During the crash, a dummy soared into the air, while another one landed twisted up. The outcome of this demonstration was fatal.

"Why not wear a seatbelt when you have everything to lose by not wearing it," said Lt. Col Vick Ward with the Highway Patrol, "And everything to gain by wearing it."

The "Click It or Ticket" campaign has been in North Carolina for 25 years. In that time, according to the Governor's Highway Safety Program, seatbelt rates have increased from 68 percent to just over 91 percent.

"It's such a simple activity," said program director Mark Ezzell, "Simply buckling your seatbelt considerably increases your chances that you'll be able to get out of any crash."

Last year, over 400 people died as a result of not buckling up in North Carolina.

This year, in an effort to reduce that number, law enforcement will be ticketing offenders.

"You will get a ticket if you don't perform that simple act of buckling your seatbelt," said Ezzell.