NEWS, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: Lt. Jeff Hallock, 714.904.7042, JHallock@ocsd.org; Emily Osterberg, 714.647.1840, EOsterberg@ocsd.org

Click It or Ticket Campaign Starts May 18th

Orange County Sheriff’s Department Will Show Zero Tolerance

SANTA ANA, Calif. (May 19, 2015) – The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is reminding motorists to Click It or Ticket. As part of the national seat belt enforcement campaign, law enforcement agencies around the country will be stepping up enforcement May 18, 2015 to May 31, 2015, just prior to one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.

“Every day, unbuckled motorists are losing their lives in motor vehicle crashes,” said Deputy Manuel Cruz of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “As we approach Memorial Day weekend and the summer vacation season, we want to make sure people are doing the one thing that can save them in a crash, buckling up.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2013 nearly half of the 21,132 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes were unrestrained. That number rose to 59% between the hours of 6 p.m. and 5:59 a.m., making nighttime enforcement a focus of The Click It or Ticket campaign.

“If you ask the family members of unrestrained people who were killed in crashes, they will tell you—they wish their loved ones had buckled up,” added Deputy Manuel Cruz. “The bottom line is that seat belts save lives. If these enforcement crackdowns get residents to buckle up, then we’ve done our job.”

Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night. In California, the maximum penalty for a seat belt violation is over $160.00.

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

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