CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) — 929 pairs of shoes were on display Friday at Whataburger Field. Each pair represented a life lost during a traffic accident in Texas last year while not wearing a seat belt.
The Texas Department of Transportation is urging drivers to wear their seat belts, and as part of their annual Click It or Ticket campaign they are stepping up patrols May 21-June 3 to ticket unbelted drivers and passengers, especially at night.
The "ghost shoes" on display at Whataburger Field were part of that Click It or Ticket campaign, and also there to help stress the importance of seat belts were David and Wendy Mills of Spring, Texas.
David and Wendy's 16-year-old daughter, Kailee, died in a car crash when she briefly removed her seat belt to take a selfie with another passenger. The couple spoke during Friday's news conference, standing in front of the 929 pairs of shoes.
"Wendy and I are among the thousands of people every year whose lives are changed instantly and completely when something terrible happens to somebody they love because they weren't buckled up, and that's exactly what happened to us on October 28, 2017," David said.
After speaking, David and his wife turned and added a pair of pink shoes to the 928 other pairs of "ghost shoes".
"She was only 500 yards from her house, and she was only going a mile away," David said. "She was riding with three of her friends to a Halloween party, and in that wild journey she let her guard down. She took her seat belt off to take a selfie in the back seat. She wanted to slide over to take a selfie in the back seat with one of her friends because they were in their Halloween costumes."
That's how the life of a straight-A student, already taking college courses in school, came to an end.
The Mills are touring the state with TxDOT and local law enforcement agencies to kick off the annual Click It or Ticket campaign.
"Just this past year, we've issued 723 citations for unrestrained drivers. Another 207 citations for unrestrained children," said Commander Billy Breedlove of the Corpus Christi Police Department.
There were 15 crashes in Corpus Christi last year in which unrestrained people suffered six deaths and nine serious injuries.
The Mills have started a scholarship foundation in Kailee's name.
"Don't stop having that conversation with your kids," David said. "It's a conversation that should never get old."
David and Wendy wrote an op-ed about their experience called "Car Crashes Don't Come with 'Do-Overs' for People Not Wearing Seat Belts."
You can read it below:
Car Crashes Don’t Come with ‘Do-Overs’ for People Not Wearing Seat Belts
By David and Wendy Mills
In the blink of an eye, our 16-year-old daughter was gone. She had just left with her friends to go to a Halloween party. They were only a few blocks away from our house when their car veered off the road. Her three friends walked away with minor cuts and bruises, but Kailee was killed when she was thrown from the vehicle. She was the only one not wearing a seat belt. That was Oct. 28, 2017 — a day we will never forget.
We couldn’t believe Kailee had taken off her seat belt. She always wore it. Her friends said she only took it off for a second to slide over to take a selfie. In the weeks after the crash, we looked up statistics on seat belt use and traffic crashes. What we found surprised us. We learned how many people die each year on our roads because they weren’t buckled up.
Last year alone, 927 people weren’t wearing a seat belt and died in traffic crashes in Texas even though the seat belt use rate in our state has topped 90 percent in recent years. Each one of those fatalities leaves family and friends who must find the strength to carry on without them. That deep loss is difficult and painful beyond words. We know that pain firsthand because we live with it every day.
We hope our daughter’s death can serve as a lesson to others about the importance of wearing seat belts. We want to turn our loss into something positive and have put our energies into helping build awareness about the importance of seat belt use.
That’s why we support the Texas Department of Transportation’s “Click It or Ticket” campaign. We want people to realize that wearing a seat belt is the single best step you can take to protect yourself in a crash. Wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of dying in a crash by 45 percent in a passenger vehicle, and up to 60 percent in a pickup truck.
And, in case you need a reminder, police around the state will be on the lookout for people not wearing seat belts from May 21 through June 3 as part of this year’s “Click It or Ticket” campaign. If you’re not wearing your seat belt, they will ticket you. Texas law requires everyone — drivers and passengers — in a vehicle to be properly buckled up, and children should be secured in a child safety seat or booster seat appropriate for their age and size.
It’s unfortunate some people need the threat of a ticket to remind them to wear a seat belt when the consequences can go far beyond paying a fine. No one should have to tell you to buckle up. You should want to do it for yourself and your loved ones. You don’t get second chance if you’re in a crash and not wearing a seat belt. For almost 1,000 people every year in Texas, there is no “what if I had buckled up?” There’s only pain and loss for those left behind to mourn you.
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