In 2020, one in five people killed in an auto crash in California were not wearing their seatbelt.

And the Manteca Police Department wants to do everything it can to shrink that number as much as possible.

For the rest of this week the agency will be out in force looking for drivers or passengers in vehicles that are not wearing their seatbelts.

As part of a grant program through the California Office of Traffic Safety – in conjunction with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – officers will participating in the annual “Click It or Ticket” campaign to promote safe driving habits and ensure that all drivers and passengers arrive at their destination safely.

“Wearing a seat belt should be an automatic for all drivers and passengers,” Manteca Police Department Traffic Officer Jose Plascencia said. “It’s the safe thing to do, especially when it comes to securing children in child safety seats.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 10,893 people that were killed in auto accidents across the country in 2020 were not wearing seatbelts. California accounted for 756 of those no seatbelt deaths – a number that translated to roughly 20 percent of all deceased individuals in auto accidents.

California law also requires that all children be secured in either a safety or booster seat until they reach 8 years of age or are at least 4-feet, 9-inches tall – with children two or below riding in a rear-facing car seat until the child weighs 40 or more pounds or is 40 inches tall.

And while California at one time had a law where police could not primarily stop a motorist because they were not wearing a seatbelt, that is not the case today – no other traffic infraction needs to be observed before an officer can stop a vehicle for a driver or passenger that is not properly secured.

Programs like the “Click It or Ticket” campaign typically reimburse agencies for the overtime hours incurred by patrol officers who provide saturation patrols to promote safe driving habits. The program also funds the DUI saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints that are carried around major holidays where alcohol takes a leading role in the festivities.