SHE was the beautiful, vivacious teen ready to take on the world. But in the blink of an eye, Kailee Mills was gone.

According to Kailee Mills’ parents, the 16-year-old was a passenger in the car with three friends. As the group were headed to a Halloween party in Houston, Texas last year, she unbuckled her seatbelt to take a selfie photograph, the New York Post reported.

Seconds after unclicking her belt, she was killed when the vehicle flipped off the road, just a few blocks from her home.

“The car went off the road. She was ejected and she died instantly,” her dad, David Mills, told KRIV News.

“All the other kids in the car they had their seat belts on and they all survived with very little injury.”

Authorities said they believe the driver was speeding and lost control of the car, news station KTRK reported.

Mills’ family said they are speaking out to promote seat belt safety, launching the Kailee Mills Foundation to raise awareness around the dangers of travelling without buckling up.

The foundation works to put stickers on car windows to remind passengers about the importance of seatbelts — no matter how short the journey may be.

“Our daughter would be here today if she had been wearing her seatbelt,” the dad said.

According to the Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety (CARRS), in Australia approximately 20 per cent of drivers and passengers killed in car accidents were not wearing seatbelts.

Since 2012, the Safer Australian Roads and Highways (SARAH) initiative have headed National Road Safety Week.

In 2017, more than 1200 people were killed on Australian roads and last year’s Christmas/New Year period was one of the most deadly since the count began.