For four hours on May 30, five Redmond Police Department (RPD) traffic officers were on the lookout for drivers using their cell phones and not buckling their seat belts.

As part of the King County Target Zero Task Force’s Click It or Ticket enforcement, they issued 48 citations — 46 for cell phone/texting violations and two for seat belts — from 4:30-8:30 p.m., according to Jim Bove, RPD’s community outreach facilitator.

“The cell phone issue continues to be a huge problem. We recommend people just putting their phone in the trunk. That way drivers aren’t even tempted to talk on the phone or text,” Bove said.

County wide between May 20 and June 2, officers issued 387 seat belt infractions and 322 tickets for cell phone usage/texting or usage of other electronic devices. Last year in King County during this same time period, officers on extra patrols wrote 296 seat belt infractions and 197 cell phone violations.

Statewide during the patrols, officers from more than 130 police and sheriff agencies wrote 2,321 seat belt violations and 1,448 cell phone/texting tickets. Last year, during this same time period, officers on the extra patrols statewide issued 3,171 seat belt violations and 1,059 cell phone violations.

The program is funded by a Washington Traffic Safety Commission grant.

“This is a really important issue, not just with our police departments but with the community. They want people to be held accountable for behind-the-wheel cell phone use,” said Annie Kirk, King County Target Zero manager.

“People don’t always make the best decisions, so officers give them a reminder why that’s important,” Kirk added. “We did have a large number of citations, but officers also saw a lot of people who were being safe in their cars.”

Kirk noted that officers see a lot of cell phone use in Redmond, and the city will be participating in another King County campaign focusing on cell phone-distraction enforcement in late June and in August.