Seat Belt Law Gets New Year Off to Busy Start for Authorities : Law enforcement: CHP estimates that 45% of the motorists ticketed on the first day of 1993 were cited for not buckling up.

The usual gunshots, firecrackers, and even a pipe bomb kept police scrambling New Year’s Eve, but what really got 1993 off with a bang for law enforcement officials was the arrival of the state’s new seat belt law.

Police reported no major incidents except for a large pipe bomb explosion in Simi Valley in which no one was hurt. Some windows were shattered, however, and the blast was heard as far as two miles away, Simi Valley Police Sgt. Arch Morgan said.

The bomb was set off four minutes before midnight in a flood-control channel south of Patricia Street, Morgan said. Investigators believe that kerosene or some other flammable liquid might have been used to increase the force of the explosion, he said.

“It was more than your run-of-the-mill firecracker,” Morgan said.

Some motorists received unpleasant shocks on New Year’s Day when officers began zealously pulling over drivers for not wearing their seat belts.

The new law permits authorities to issue $22 tickets to drivers who don’t buckle up. Under the old law, officers could cite unbelted drivers or passengers only if they had been pulled over for speeding or another suspected violation.

California Highway Patrol officials estimated that 45% of the motorists ticketed Friday were cited solely for not buckling up.

“I was responding to an accident, and I noticed that a lot of people, as soon as they saw the black-and-white, they reached for their seat belts,” CHP Sgt. Michael Cooper said. “It has been publicized enough that people do know it’s in effect.”

Ventura Police Cpl. Mike Foster said he handed out about eight tickets in four hours.

Surprisingly, no one was upset, he said. “They all knew why I pulled them over,” Foster said.

In Oxnard, Police Officer Jeff Shelton was giving motorists a break after he stopped them.

“I just figured I’ll give them a grace period of about a week,” Shelton said.

When Shelton pulled over Janie Ortega, she banged her head against her steering wheel and groaned after realizing she was unbelted.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe this,” said Ortega, a security guard at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme. “I was just reminding my husband last night about the new law. This is a major embarrassment.”

Ortega was the first motorist he stopped since the new law went into effect, Shelton said. The night before, he was too busy responding to New Year’s Eve gunfire calls to worry about traffic problems, he said.

“At five minutes to 12, I went under an awning, and it sounded like a war zone,” Shelton said.

Oxnard led the county in the highest number of reported gunshots on New Year’s Eve. Police received 41 calls of firecrackers and gunfire, and arrested one person who was seen firing two guns into the air, Oxnard Police Lt. Jamie Skeeters said.

“For the most part, folks kind of behaved themselves,” Skeeters said.

Law enforcement officials in other parts of Ventura County reported few gunfire calls on New Year’s Eve. Ventura received about six calls, Port Hueneme received four calls and Ventura County sheriff’s deputies had about a dozen calls throughout the west part of the county, Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Montijo said. “It was absolutely quiet,” he said.

Figures were not available for other cities in the county, and no figures were available for the eastern part of the county, authorities said.

Authorities also reported a slow night for drunk-driving violations and drunk-driving accidents.

CHP officials said 12 people were arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, and law enforcement officials said few drivers were cited on county and city roads on New Year’s Eve.

Simi Valley didn’t have any drunk-driving arrests, Lt. Neal Rein said. “It wasn’t for lack of trying. We had tons of people out there looking for them.”

No major alcohol-related accidents were reported, with the exception of one incident in which a sheriff’s deputy’s car was hit by a truck about 8:20 a.m. on New Year’s Day.

Deputy Bryan Probasco, who was not hurt, said he was driving in the Hollywood Beach area, near Sunset Lane and Los Robles Street, when a small truck headed toward him.

“There was a bump, and he was going so fast, he was airborne,” Probasco said. “I tried to turn into a driveway to avoid him, and he tore my rear bumper off.”

Probasco said he pulled over and arrested Stewart Cordor, 22, of Oxnard on suspicion of drunk driving.

LABOR LEADER: County’s first baby of ’93 born. B4