Are you wearing your seat belt? ‘No excuses’ enforcement starts today

Newport Beach and Irvine police will be on the lookout for anyone not wearing a seat belt during the last two weeks of May as the departments participate in the nationwide Click It or Ticket campaign.

The campaign, which runs from Monday through May 31, is designed to reiterate the dangers of riding in or driving a car without buckling up.

According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 500 people who weren’t wearing seat belts died in crashes in California in 2013. Nationwide, the number was more than 21,000.

“If you ask the family members of those unrestrained people who were killed in crashes, they’ll tell you they wish their loved ones had buckled up,” Newport Beach police Lt. Tom Fischbacher said in a statement. “The bottom line is that seat belts save lives. If these enforcement crackdowns get people’s attention and get them to buckle up, then we’ve done our job.”

To drive home the point, Newport police said they will be taking a “no-excuses approach” as they hand out citations.

A first-time ticket for not buckling up costs $161 in California, according to the state Office of Traffic Safety. If a parent or the driver doesn’t properly secure a child younger than 16, the fine balloons to $490.

“As we approach Memorial Day weekend and the summer vacation season, we want to make sure people are doing the one best thing that can save them in a crash: buckling up,” Fischbacher said.

— Jeremiah Dobruck

Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck