Click It or Ticket Campaign Underway in Rancho Cordova

From Nov. 17 to Nov. 30, the Rancho Cordova Police Department will be enforcing safety belt laws on Rancho Cordova roadways to promote safe holiday travel.

The Click It or Ticket campaign is funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. During the campaign, the police department will engage in heavy enforcement on the roadways and will also offer public education on seat belt law.

California currently has a 95.7 percent seat belt use, but Police Chief Reuben Meeks would like to work toward 100 percent seat belt use. ““The Click It or Ticket campaign has shown that Californians have gotten the message that seat belts work,” Meeks said in a statement. “But hundreds still are dying every year because they didn’t buckle up. Our officers will not accept excuses or give warnings. It really is Click It or Ticket.”

The ticket for a first-time seat belt violation starts at $132 for an adult and $426 for unrestrained children, the statement said, and officers will be focusing on teenage drivers and nighttime car occupants during the campaign because those categories of drivers are less likely to buckle up.

“While we are very happy with actually surpassing 95 percent usage, that still means that more than a million people are in real danger in the event of a crash,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). “It takes just two seconds to reduce your chances of dying in a crash by half.”