HONOLULU – The state Department of Transportation and the four county police departments will conduct the annual "Click It or Ticket" seat belt enforcement campaign today through the rest of the month.

Police statewide will issue citations to motorists not wearing seat belts. Hawaii's seat belt laws require all front-seat occupants to buckle up, as well as back-seat passengers under the age of 18. Violators of seat belt laws will be assessed a $92 fine.

State law also requires children under 4 years old to ride in a child safety seat, and children ages 4 to 8 to ride in either a child safety seat or a booster seat. Violators of Hawaii's Child Passenger Restraint Law are required to attend a four-hour class and may be assessed a fine between $100 and $500 depending on the number of offenses.

Hawaii's seat belt usage jumped to 97.6 percent during the 2007 Click It or Ticket campaign, giving Hawaii the highest rate in the nation. This rate also makes Hawaii the first state to ever reach the 97 percent mark during the history of the safety campaign. The national average for seat belt use in 2007 was 82 percent.

This year's seat belt campaign will continue to focus on the lowest-rated groups of unbuckled drivers and passengers: the 18- to 25-year-old age group and drivers of pickup trucks. In addition to issuing citations for seat belt violations, police will enforce child restraint laws, ticketing drivers if children are not restrained properly in child safety seats in the vehicle's back seat.

During the May 2007 campaign, police officers around the state issued 2,793 citations for seat belt violations and 170 citations for child safety restraint infractions.

For more information about the "Click It or Ticket" campaign, contact the Highway Safety Section at 587-6301 or visit the Hawaii Department of Transportation at hawaii.gov/dot.