In May, 2007, another annual click it or ticket campaign occurred. The Virginia click it or ticket program is trying to improve statewide safety belt compliance which is currently 78.6%. The goal for Virginia (VA) is to get the rate of people wearing their seatbelts up to 82%. North Carolina (NC) has been ahead of Virginia (VA) on seatbelt usage, having a rate of 86.7% of its motorist buckling up in 2005. North Carolina has used a click it or ticket campaign, and they had a dramatic reduction of 14% in fatal and serious highway injuries. The North Carolina program became a model for other states across the country.
Wearing your seatbelt you avoid having your head or your face strike something in the car in the event of a collision. In a recent report from March of 2007, by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), it was indicated that there has been an increase in hospitalizations related to traumatic brain injuries based upon the study of data from nine states in 2003. Motor vehicles wrecks were a main cause of the traumatic brain injury hospitalizations. Each year in the U.S. there are over a million emergency room visits because of brain trauma and 50,000 deaths. Traumatic brain injury can involve devastating and permanent impairment even when there is no open wound to the skin or the skull on the head.
Buckle up in Virginia (VA) and North Carolina (NC), not just to avoid a ticket, but to protect yourself from becoming a highway statistic. Make sure that the young and the old in your family also buckle up as they are often less likely to do so.
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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