Stepped up seat belt enforcement continues through June 6
With Memorial Day just around the corner and the summer travel season underway, law enforcement agencies will continue stepped up seat belt enforcement to ensure all motorists buckle up. More than 220 seat belt enforcement zones and patrols will be taking place all over the state during the holiday weekend.
Last Memorial Day weekend, five vehicle occupants died on Michigan roadways and two of them were not wearing seat belts. In fact, despite the state’s almost 98 percent seat belt use rate, more than half of vehicle occupants who died in crashes last year were unbelted.
“Most people on Michigan’s roadways always wear a seat belt; this enforcement effort is working to reach those few hold-outs,” said Michael L. Prince, Office of Highway Safety Planning director. “Wearing a seat belt is easy and it is the single best way to reduce your chances of being hurt or killed in a traffic crash.”
Seat belt enforcement will continue through June 6 with officers in 30 counties conducting roving night patrols and daytime seat belt enforcement zones.
This annual enforcement effort is part of a larger national campaign paid for with federal funds earmarked specifically for traffic safety efforts. The funding is used to pay for advertising and officer participation.
Federally-funded seat belt enforcement is occurring in the following counties: Allegan, Barry, Bay, Berrien, Calhoun, Cass, Chippewa, Genesee, Grand Traverse, Houghton, Ingham, Isabella, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Marquette, Monroe, Muskegon, Oakland, Ottawa, Saginaw, St. Clair, Tuscola, Van Buren, Washtenaw, Wayne, and Wexford.
A list of planned enforcement times, dates and locations is available at www.michigan.gov/ohsp.
