Click It or Ticket Enforcement Campaign to Begin

PALM SPRINGS —From May 20 to June 2, 2019, The Palm Springs Police Department will have additional officers on patrol looking for drivers and passengers who are not buckled up, including drivers who do not secure children in child safety seats. The enforcement effort is part of the national Click It or Ticket campaign focused on increasing seat belt use.

“Seat belts have proven time and time again to be life-savers,” Sgt. Arnold Galvan said in a prepared statemente. “Buckling up should be second nature.”

At 96.2%, California has one of the highest seat belt use rates in the nation. However, 532 people killed in crashes statewide last year were not wearing a seat belt.

“Putting on a seat belt takes a few seconds and is your best protection in a crash,” Galvan said. “We want everyone to be as safe as possible when driving or riding in a car and wearing a seat belt is the easiest way to do that.”

In California, the fine for a seat belt violation is $162, and $490 for failing to secure a child in the proper safety seat. Under California law, children under two years old, 40 pounds and 40 inches are required be in a rear-facing car seat. Children under the age of eight must be secured in a car or booster seat.

California has a primary seat belt law, which allows law enforcement officers to ticket someone for not wearing a seat belt without committing another traffic violation.

“Click It or Ticket” debuted in California in 2005, and since then the state’s seat belt use rate has increased from 92.5 percent in 2005 to a record high of 97.4 percent in 2014, representing over 1.5 million more vehicle occupants who have started buckling up, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety.

Money for Click It or Ticket enforcement efforts are provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.