May 15, 2006

Police plan stepped-up enforcement in May

Drivers and passengers will get extra reminders to buckle up from May 15 through June 4, courtesy of the UCSC Police.

UCSC's officers are joining local and state police in the nationwide “Click it or Ticket” campaign administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety campaign.

A random sampling of vehicles will be checked before and after the campus enforcement effort to see if compliance has increased; a 2 percent boost in seat-belt usage is the goal. Last year, the compliance rate increased from 92 percent to 98 percent, so campus police are hoping for 100 percent compliance this year.

Tickets for a first-offense seat-belt violation in Santa Cruz County are $101, with much higher fines if a vehicle is pulled over and a passenger under age 16 is unbuckled or improperly buckled.

Campus police will also be participating on May 16 in a countywide enforcement campaign called BADGES, for “Before Aggressive Drivers Get Everybody Stopped.” The focus will be on equipment violations, such as broken or nonfunctioning brake lights.