SACRAMENTO – The California Highway Patrol reported this week on its efforts to save lives by emphasizing enforcement of seat belt laws.

The CHP reported that California has one of the highest seat belt compliance rates in the nation – 95.3 percent.

The CHP has spent the past year focusing on the remaining population with a seat belt safety campaign aimed at encouraging Californians to properly secure themselves and their children inside their vehicle.

“I am proud that California has one of the highest seat belt compliance rates. The CHP and the law enforcement community applaud California motorists for their use of seat belts and child passenger safety seats,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow.

“We thank you for making your drives safe for yourself and your passengers,” Farrow said. “However, we still have approximately 4.7 percent of the population, which is equivalent to more than 1.7 million people, who are not buckling up.”

The California Occupant Restraint Campaign (CORC) enabled the CHP to strengthen its enforcement and education efforts statewide through a combination of seat belt and safety seat usage surveys and child passenger safety presentations.

Throughout the past year, the grant assisted the CHP with educating more than 100,000 parents, guardians and caregivers. The grant also funded training to certify CHP personnel, as well as employees from allied agencies, to become child passenger safety technicians to inspect and issue car seats.

“The message we want to share is that motor vehicle collisions continue to be the leading cause of death and injury for vehicle occupants of all age groups, regardless of gender or ethnicity,” said Commissioner Farrow. “Seat belts and safety seats help increase your odds of surviving a collision.”

In addition to conducting community outreach and enforcement activities to increase seat belt and child restraint usage, the grant’s goals were to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries in collisions. Final collision figures from the grant-period will not be available until next year.

“We hope those who haven’t developed the habit of wearing the seat belt would understand their importance, just like the majority of Californians have,” added Commissioner Farrow. “Protect yourself and your passengers, please buckle up.”

The CORC was funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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