Click It Or Get A Ticket In Monrovia This Weekend, Police Warns

MONROVIA, CA — The Monrovia Police Department will be out in force this Memorial Day weekend looking for motorists driving drunk or otherwise violating traffic laws, including the requirement to wear seatbelts. The enforcement is part of the national seat belt campaign scheduled for one the busiest travel holiday weekends of the year.

The enforcement period will last through June 4. Monrovia police will conduct 28 seat belt enforcement operations during the Click It or Ticket mobilization to help lower California’s traffic deaths. In addition to these special patrols, officers on routine patrol will also be looking for unrestrained drivers and passengers to stop and cite.

“Our law enforcement personnel see firsthand the loss of life when people refuse to buckle up,” Monrovia police Chief Jim Hunt. “It’s such a simple thing, and it should be an automatic next step after sitting down in a vehicle.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half of the 22,441 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2015 were unrestrained. During nighttime hours, that number soared to 57 percent of those killed.

In Monrovia, the ticket cost for an adult seat belt violation is $162, with penalties for not restraining a child at $465.

In 2015, 545 Californians were killed because they did not buckle their seat belts according to NHTSA. Nationally, 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 2015, more than half (52 percent) were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 42 percent were not buckled up.

“Please, help us spread this life-saving message before one more friend or family member is killed as a result of this senseless inaction,” Hunt said. “Seat belts save lives, and everyone needs to remember to buckle up, every trip, every time.”

Funding for these operations is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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