‘Click It or Ticket’: Seatbelt enforcement campaign launched by SP Police Dept.
May 13, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula Police will have “zero tolerance” when the Click It or Ticket campaign kicks off May 18 and officers will be looking for those that aren’t buckled in a seatbelt—and especially for unsecured children that will bring hefty penalties to drivers.
And that might include saturation patrols where officers are directed to go out with the goal of making contacts with drivers about the unsafe habit.
Again this year, the SPPD is reminding motorists to “Click It or Ticket.” As part of the national seat belt enforcement campaign, law enforcement agencies throughout Ventura County will also be stepping up enforcement May 18-31, including one of the busiest travel weekends of the year that kicks off the summer season.
“Every day, unbuckled motorists are losing their lives in motor vehicle crashes,” said Watson. “As we approach Memorial Day weekend and the summer vacation season, we want to make sure people are doing the one best thing that can save them in a crash — buckling up.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half of the 21,132 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2013 were unrestrained. At night from 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., that number soared to 59 percent of those killed. That’s why one focus of the “Click It or Ticket” campaign is nighttime enforcement. Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night. In California, the minimum penalty for a seat belt violation is $161.
Actually the cost is more as the court can add on to the basic fine—and for those drivers found to have an unrestrained child in the car the penalties are even stricter.
For those who claim they are economically disadvantaged, in lieu of the fine, “They can be ordered to attend a community education class,” that includes the use of child restraints and laws that apply to child passengers.
When the course is completed a certificate would have to be presented to the court to prove participation.
Watson said although drivers not wearing seatbelts might receive a strict warning that won’t be the case if a small child is in a car and not buckled up.
“Then it will be zero tolerance,” and a ticket issued, said Watson.
A second offense of the seatbelt law involving an unrestrained child starts at $250, “That’s a stiff penalty…nonetheless it’s not a very nice ticket to get and there is no way I would give someone a break for not restraining a child.”
Whereas before weight factored in on how a child must be protected while riding in a car, Watson said the law now states that any child under 8 years old must be restrained in a seat in the backseat of a vehicle.
California statistics reveal that 500 unrestrained vehicle occupants died in 2013. Almost twice as many males were killed in crashes as compared to females, with lower belt use rates too. Of the males killed in crashes in 2013, more than half (54%) were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 41 percent were not buckled up.
Said Watson, “If you ask the family members of those unrestrained people who were killed in crashes, they’ll tell you—they wish their loved ones had buckled up.
“The bottom line is that seat belts save lives. If these enforcement crackdowns get people’s attention and get them to buckle up, then we’ve done our job.”
For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot
