'Click It Or Ticket 'not just a catchy phrase

Keith Wallace. William Rotunda.

Two Sarasota 18-year-olds whose names made headlines for tragic reasons Monday.

Wallace was killed, and Rotunda critically injured when their pickup truck rolled over on the southbound Interstate 75 on-ramp at State Road 70, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Both were ejected.

Neither was using a seat belt.

How sadly ironic that increased enforcement of Florida's new seat belt law begins Tuesday.

Whether that would have changed the fate for these two teens, who knows?

They would have given themselves a fighting chance.

The National Highway Safety Administration estimates the new law will save 124 lives and prevent 1,733 inuries in Florida every year.

Click It Or Ticket, the NHSA campaign aimed at increasing seat belts use by young people, is not just a catchy phrase.

Never mind a hefty fine.

It can save lives.

How many times have we read about fatalities involving motorists or passengers who didn't use seat belts and were thrown from their vehicles?

Young Wallace and Rotunda are the latest.

Unfortunately, they will not be the last.