CDOT’s "Click It for Quick Trips" Campaign is Larger Than Life
STATEWIDE — The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is raising awareness of an alarming fact: people tend to buckle up less when driving short distances even though 50 percent of crashes occur within five miles of home, according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA).
To encourage people to buckle up close to home, CDOT is rolling out (literally) an awareness campaign to remind drivers that even quick trips need a click.
The campaign includes social media outreach through the month of March, and features a large outdoor display of a wrecked vehicle crashed into a larger-than-life sized roll of bathroom tissue. The display will be unveiled on March 18 in the Belmar shopping center, on the corner of W. Virginia Avenue and S. Teller Street. [Map] The display’s message – Click it for Quick Essentials - should hit home with everyone who sees it.
Other ‘quick essential’ images used in the campaign include a cup of coffee, a jug of milk and a take-out container. The campaign also included billboard and radio spots. All campaign assets are available athttps://www.dropbox.com/sh/dswihy1gue7o8jx/AACkXGzNJ-ecrMEg5uyNKARUa?dl=0.
“52 percent of collisions in the United States occur within a 5-mile radius of the home, and 69 percent of collisions occur within 10 miles,” said Darrell Lingk, Director of the Office of Transportation Safety at CDOT. “We hope this campaign reminds people to buckle up even when running quick errands for everyday household items.”
Seat belts save lives, regardless of how long the drive. Since 1960, seat belts have saved 329,715 nationwide, more lives than all other vehicle technology combined, according to NHTSA. In 2017 NHTSA estimates that seat belts saved the lives of 226 people in Colorado.
“We have more work to do,” said Sam Cole, Safety Communications Manager at CDOT. “14 percent of Coloradans don’t use a seat belt, so the goal of this campaign is to reminds drivers and passengers just how important buckling up is, regardless of the trip’s length or destination.”
Statewide seat belt use is 86 percent, which is four percent lower than the national average of 90 percent. NHTSA estimates that 70 additional lives could be saved every year in Colorado if everyone buckled up.
For more information about the Click it for Quick Trips campaign and resources to help spread the word about reducing the number of traffic deaths in Colorado, visit the CDOT website.
About CDOT
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has approximately 3,000 employees located at its Denver headquarters and in regional offices throughout Colorado, and manages more than 23,000 lane miles of highway and 3,429 bridges. CDOT also manages grant partnerships with a range of other agencies including metropolitan planning organizations, local governments, and airports, and administers Bustang, the state-owned and operated interregional express service. Governor Polis has charged CDOT to further build on the state’s intermodal mobility options.
