Click it or Ticket: Crackdown to Target Seatbelt Scofflaws

Seatbelt laws have been on the books in California since 1986, yet there are still a few people that risk a ticket—or worse—by not buckling up. The odds of getting a seatbelt ticket will go up next week, as will be joining law-enforcement agencies across the state in a crackdown on violators.

The Click it or Ticket campaign starts on Monday and will last until June 3, although deputies issue tickets all year.

The cost of a first-time ticket starts at $142, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

“Too many drivers and passengers on the road at night are not wearing their seatbelts, and it all too often ends in tragedy,” Sheriff Bill Gore said in a statement. “Our goal is to save more lives, so deputies will be out enforcing seatbelt laws around the clock.”

Data released by the department show that younger drivers are particularly at risk. Of the people age 18-34 who were killed in car crashes in 2010, 62 percent were not wearing a seatbelt, the highest of any age group. That number rises to 66 percent when just men are included. More than half of all people killed in a crash in 2010 were not buckled up.

Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that in 2010 alone, seatbelts saved an estimated 12,546 lives nationwide.