The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is working with Hillsborough County Public Schools to increase safety belt use by our teenage drivers and passengers. This year the focusing was on awareness campaigns and programs before the holiday break to make students aware of how important safety belt use is. The Community Outreach Division sponsored a Battle of the Belts competition to promote this seat belt awareness campaign.

The campaign ran the week of December 10-14, 2012. The Awards Ceremony will take place January 31st, at 9am at Lennard High School.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for American teenagers. In fact, teens have the highest fatality rate in motor vehicle crashes than any other age group. They have the lowest safety belt use rates of all drivers. This rate is even lower when there are multiple teens in the vehicle.

The Battle of the Belts competition was initiated in an effort to change these statistics and increase safety belt use amongst teenagers.

Twenty five Hillsborough County high schools participated in the 2011-2012 school year Battle of the Belts campaign. King High School won the award for “Highest Percent of Overall Seatbelt Use.” Spoto High School won the award for “Most Improved.” The “Best Campaign” award went to Blake High School.

Contacts for Battle of the Belts:

For questions pertaining to the campaign guidelines, please contact the Community Outreach Division at 247-8072.

Application Packet