CDOT Gets Personal to Encourage Seat Belt Use in New Campaign

The Colorado Department of Transportation launched a new public awareness campaign in August statewide to bring attention to the importance of seat belt safety.

The new campaign called “Reasons” aims to remind drivers and passengers of the variety of personal reasons they may have for buckling up.

“We all have reasons to make it to our destination safely, and wearing a seat belt can help ensure that we do,” said CDOT Traffic Safety Manager Sam Cole. “CDOT’s campaign taps into lighthearted things that motivate us, while also underscoring the serious consequences of not buckling up.”

From 2015 to 2019 there were 117 unbuckled deaths from traffic crashes within Weld County. Last year, Weld County also had one of the lowest seat belt use rates in the state at 81 percent with the statewide average being 88 percent.

Some reasons CDOT uses in the campaign are as follows:

• Reason #11 to Buckle Up: A windshield is something nobody should go through.
• Reason #21 to Buckle Up: “Be right back” shouldn’t be your last words.
• Reason #84 to Buckle Up: You finally paid off your student loan.
• Reason #156 to Buckle Up: You’re not out of dad jokes yet.

Those that see the impact of wearing and not wearing a seatbelt first-hand are first responders and healthcare workers. Additionally, the slogan for the campaign is “Nurses are busy enough”.

“We would never want to see you, or any member of your family, in one of our trauma bays because you could have done something as easy as buckling up,” said Sarah, a Registered Nurse at Denver Health. “We see patients day in and day out that could have taken the very simple step, and instead, they end in our ICUs or worse,” said Sarah.

For more information regarding CDOT’s new seatbelt campaign, visit: https://www.codot.gov/news/2020/august-2020/cdotgetspersonal