As a young patrol officer, 24 years ago, Sam LePere of theDallas Police Department was called to his first accident, where apickup truck had smashed into a tree. When he and a team ofinvestigators arrived, they found a man’s face smashedthrough the windshield.

“We were all about to throw up,” said LePere, who isnow a traffic accident investigator. “All I could think wasif that guy had worn a seat belt, he would have avoided all ofit.”

Despite warnings and horror stories like LePere’s, almost20 percent of Texans do not wear seat belts.

Throughout LePere’s six years as an investigator where hehas seen almost 3,000 accidents, he has noticed many of thenon-seat belt wearers are younger drivers.

“They think they’re indestructible,” he said.”They don’t know what death is or understand itsfinality.”

Every state except New Hampshire has instituted mandatory seatbelt laws. Almost 12,000 lives were saved in 2000 by seat belts,according to the National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration.

The statewide “Click It or Ticket Texas” campaignbegan in 2001 when data showed that, despite the law requiringfront-seat passengers to wear a seat belt, one in four Texans werenot. Seat belt usage has increased almost 6 percent to 81.5 percentsince then. The goal this year is to increase usage to 85percent.

“Every time we’ve participated in the program,we’ve seen an increase,” Dallas Police DepartmentSenior Corp. Debra Guajardo-Raffety said. “When I was outlooking [over Memorial Day weekend], it was hard to find[violators].”

The Dallas Police Department increased police checkpoints forseat belts from May 19 to June 1 in an effort to increase seat beltusage in Texas. Police wrote 4,658 tickets ranging from $105 to$180 over the two-week period, Guajardo-Raffety said.

Police officials will discover how effective the two-weekprogram was when new figures on seat belt usage are released inSeptember.

A second two-week enforcement period will occur from Nov. 18through Dec. 1.

Though the Dallas Police Department maintains strict seat beltenforcement throughout the year, an additional 40 officers weredispatched during the two weeks to target seat belt violators,Guajardo-Raffety said.

The campaign is specifically directed toward some at-riskpopulations, including males, teens and pickup truck drivers.

“[College-aged drivers] are taking more risks,”Guajardo-Raffety said of the trend.

With the threat of increased ticketing, the “Click It orTicket” campaign has encouraged some SMU students to buckleup.

Junior Alvin Nnabuife says he almost never wears a seat beltbecause it is uncomfortable, but has recently buckled up more oftenin fear of receiving a ticket.

“I’ve been with some friends when they have gottentickets, but I haven’t gotten one,” he said.

Elaine Hansford, a junior business finance/economics major, whowears a seat belt about 75 percent of the time, says she has beenusing her seat belt more often since police began ticketing.

Maria-Jose Recinos, a senior psychology major, has worn a seatbelt since she was injured in a car accident.

“I had to have reconstructive surgery. I wasn’twearing a seat belt then,” she said. “I wear my seatbelt every time now.”

Although the program has influenced change in somestudents’ seat belt habits, others remain unaffected byit.

Ashton Nixon, a junior management science major, says he wears aseat belt about half of the time. The campaign has not affected hisusage in part because disagrees with the seat belt law.

He is not alone in his complaint. The seat belt ticket is themost often complained about and taken to court, Guajardo-Raffetysaid.

However, LePere disagrees with any arguments he has heard.

“Any excuse is a lame excuse,” he said. “Notwearing a seat belt is like putting two loaded guns to your head.First is the initial impact.

The second is almost like committing suicide. If you’renot wearing a seat belt, you won’t be able to gain controland save your life and those around you.”

Despite some disgruntled drivers, Guajardo-Raffety remainsconfident in the value of the program.

“A $105 ticket is cheaper than a funeral,” shesaid.