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# Santa Monica police looking for seat belt violators
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-police-looking-for-seat-belt-violators/
- Published: 2002-11-23T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:59:21.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Crime, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

Local police will be on the look-out next week for motorists who aren’t wearing their seat belts.

In a stepped-up effort to increase seat belt use, the Santa Monica Police Department will join law enforcement in California and across the nation during Buckle Up America/Operation ABC (America Buckles ups Children’s) Mobilization, Nov. 25 through Dec. 1.

The mobilization is part of the California Seat Belt Compliance Campaign, designed to increase the state’s 91.1 percent seat belt use rate to 92 percent by 2003\. The remaining 8.9 percent, or, “late eight” equals roughly 3.1 million vehicle occupants — more than the population of 21 states. The campaign also includes a second mobilization period, May 19-26, 2003.

The mobilization will focus on all drivers and vehicle occupants in California who fail to wear seat belts. Of particular attention, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, are teen drivers between 16 and 18 years of age, who are at a deadly intersection of driving and high-risk behavior.

Last year in California, 1,268 vehicle occupants lost their lives in traffic collisions. Of that, about 45 percent, or 571, of those lives could have been saved had they remembered to buckle up, officials say.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 23, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/112302.pdf?ref=smdp.com)