The Susanville Police Department is reminding travelers to always buckle up and secure children in the right car seats when visiting friends and family. To emphasize that point this year’s Click It or Ticket campaign runs from now until June 1st.
During this time, the Susanville Police Department will have officers on patrol actively looking for drivers and passengers who are not wearing a seat belt. This includes vehicles where children are not secured in child safety seats or the right safety seats for their age.
Nationally, 11,302 people killed in crashes in 2022 were not wearing seat belts. In California, 842 people killed in crashes in 2022 were not wearing seat belts, a decrease of 8.4 percent from 2021.
California law requires all children under 2 years old to ride in a rear-facing car seat, unless the child is 40 or more pounds or is 40 or more inches tall. Once a child reaches these milestones, all children under the age of 8 years are still required to be secured in a car seat or booster seat.
Children under the age of 8 may not ride in the front seat unless the vehicle is not equipped with a rear, forward-facing seat. Children 8 and older, or who are at least 4 feet 9 inches tall, may be secured by a booster seat, but at a minimum must be wearing a properly fitted safety belt.
Parents and caregivers are encouraged to keep children in the proper rear or forward-facing seat as long as possible and use the “Five-Step Test” to determine if their child is big enough to safely use a seat belt without a booster seat.
