Buckle up to save a buck “Click It or Ticket” campaign is underway

On the few days prior to the first of the big three summer holidays, the California Highway Patrol officers and Riverside County have rolled out their “Clicket or Ticket” campaign.

Sheriff’s deputies in the Coachella Valley will participate inthe national
effort to enforce seat belt laws starting Tuesday and running through June 3.

Extra officers will be on patrol, “looking for those who choose to not
wear their seatbelts or not wear them correctly,” said Officer Joe Zagorski of the CHP’s Indio area office.

So far this year, six out of 11 fatal collisions in theCoachella Valley have involved people not wearing seat belts, Zagorski said.

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration,
California had a 95.3 percent seat belt usage rate in 2009, the third-highest
in the country.

“Even with the increasing percentage of seat belt usage rate by
Californians, it is still not 100 percent, and as a result, the CHP still sees
fatalities in collisions as a result of occupants not wearing their seat
belts,” Zagorski said.