Seat Belt Safety Campaign Runs Through Memorial Day
SANTA ANA, Calif. (May. 11, 2026) – The Orange County Sheriff’s Department reminds travelers to always buckle up and secure children in the right car seats when visiting friends and family.
This year’s Click It or Ticket campaign runs from May 18 to 31. During this time, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department will have additional officers on patrol actively looking for drivers and passengers who are not wearing seat belts. This includes vehicles in which children are not secured in child safety seats or the appropriate safety seats for their age.
“Our priority is protecting the people in our community. Wearing a seat belt or properly securing children in car seats or a booster seat gives everyone a better chance of surviving a crash,”Traffic Bureau Sergeant Kyle Ishii said. “We want every trip – short or long – to end safely, so please buckle up, every time.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2023, 10,484 people killed in crashes in the U.S. were not wearing a seat belt. In California, there were 780 unrestrained people killed in crashes that same year, including 24 children. Additionally, unrestrained child fatalities in California increased by 4.3 percent from 2022 to 2023.
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.
The Orange County Health Care Agency car seat safety program offers free inspections and help to install your car seat. For more information about the car seat safety program, contact OC Health at CarSeatProgram@ochca.com or visit their website OC Health. A resource guide is available to locate your nearest Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Technician, some of which offer low-cost or no cost car seats.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.