They are called the 'Ghost Shoes' and today they marched out a powerful message, as TxDOT kicked off its annual 'Click it or Ticket' campaign to encourage seat belt use, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The 919 pairs of shoes, boots, and sandals, all painted white, represent all 929 people who were killed on Texas roads in 2017 because they weren't wearing their seat belt
.One of the pairs of shoes represents Kaylee Mills, 16, who was killed last October when the car that was taking her and her friends to a Halloween party suddenly veered off a road not far from her home in suburban Houston and flipped over.
"Seeing your daughter laying under a white sheet has to be one of the worst things a person can go through," Kaylee's father Dave Mills said.
"She would be getting ready for prom this week. We're not going to be able to see her walk across the stage or go to college or become an adult."
Mills says it is ironic that his daughter was killed because she didn't have a seat belt on, because she always wore her seat belt. She had just taken it off for a second as she approached the house where the party was being held, and that shows how quickly things can happen on the road.
"She was very good about wearing her seat belt, in fact, she had her seat belt on, in fact she only unbuckled it because she wanted to take a selfie in her Halloween costume."
The annual Click or Ticket campaign is beginning statewide today. Remember, in Texas, the law allows police to pull you over and give you a ticket solely because you are not wearing a seat belt.