Click It or Ticket Campaign

SMPD will deploy additional officers May 21- June 3, 2018 on special traffic patrols to stop and ticket both drivers and passengers for failing to use the vehicle’s safety belt restraints.  This will also include drivers who fail to secure children in the proper child restraint seats.

“If you know a friend or a family member who does not buckle up when they drive, please ask them to consider changing their habits,” said Chief Cynthia Renaud. “Help us spread this life-saving message before one more friend or family member is killed as a result of this inaction. Seat belts save lives, and everyone needs to remember to buckle up—every trip, every time.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half (48%) of the passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2016 were unrestrained. At night from 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., that number soared to 56 percent of those killed resulting in a focus of the Click It or Ticket campaign to nighttime enforcement. Police, Sheriff and the CHP 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 $162.

“This Memorial Day period and, in fact, every day, we want everyone in every vehicle to remember that buckling up could be their greatest defense in a crash,” said Rhonda Craft, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety. “Putting on a seat belt is one of the quickest, simplest and most effective ways to ensure you and your loved ones remain safe and sound on the road.”

This enforcement effort is funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and remember - Report Drunk Drivers - call 911.