Buckled Up, San Rafael? Woe To Those Who Aren't; Citations Run $161 Minimum

By Susan C. Schena (Patch Staff)

As part of the national seat belt enforcement campaign, law enforcement agencies around the country will be stepping up enforcement beginning today and running through May 31, including one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.

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.

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 percent) were unrestrained. For females killed in crashes, 41 percent were not buckled up.

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

For more information on the Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.

--Information and image submitted from the Livermore Police Department and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.