Pasadena cops issue 547 seat-belt citations during drive

By far, most Pasadena motorists use their safety belts, and police say that remained true over Memorial Day weekend.
The video above shows what happened to one young man who wasn't wearing one.
During the state's most recent Click-It or Ticket campaign May 24 through June 6, Pasadena police found that 93.5 percent of drivers and passengers were using safety belts, Lt. Susan Clifton said.
That's much higher than the national rate of 84 percent but a barely noticeable increase from 93.4 percent observed in a pre-campaign survey May 18 at four Pasadena intersections.
Clifton said she wasn't surprised at the minimal increase.
The citations that were written were issued throughout the entire city," she said.
The compliance surveys were conducted at four fixed locations," she said. "I am sure that we could have worked those four areas very heavily and a had a greater increase in compliance, but I do not feel that would have been an accurate representation of compliance in our city."
During the two-week campaign period, Pasadena police issued 404 safety-belt citations to adult drivers and passengers as well as 143 to adult drivers for their unbelted passengers age 17 and younger.
In addition to the 143 tickets issued to adults for children not wearing safety belts, Pasadena police also wrote 101 citations to adults regarding child safety-seat violations.
A new state law that took effect June 1 requires passengers younger than 8 years and shorter than 4 feet 9 inches to ride in car seats or booster seats.
The department had estimated that officers would write 355 safety-belt citations during the campaign. That number was exceeded by 192 or 54 percent.
The estimate assumed that officers would observe an average of three safety belt violations per hour, but the actual number exceeded that, Clifton said.
I'm pleased with the effort of the officers working the program," she said. They by far exceeded performance expectations."
As for child safety-seat violations, the department had estimated that officers would issue 135 citations, but the number was only 101, which Clifton called a comforting shortfall."
A $10,000 grant from the Texas Department of Transportation paid Pasadena officers for 196 overtime hours dedicated to safety-belt enforcement during the Click-It or Ticket campaign.