By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com

Law enforcement officers are stationed throughout Livingston County looking to stop un-buckled motorists as the annual Memorial Day Click It or Ticket campaign begins.

This year’s Click It or Ticket campaign is back and running through June 6th. Michigan State Police, local sheriff’s offices, and police departments all over are conducting heightened enforcement of Michigan seat belt laws during this time.

Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning Director Michael Prince said, in a release, that many critical injuries and loss of life on the road could have prevented with the simple click of a seat belt.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration claims that buckling up in the front seat can reduce the risk of serious injury or death in a crash by 45%. While traffic was lighter in much of 2020 due to the pandemic, the OHSP reports that in a more comparable 2019, 217 people in the state were killed in traffic crashes while not wearing a seatbelt. During that same Memorial Day period, there were 13 roadway fatalities with 2 of those deaths involving people who were not buckled up.

Michigan law requires drivers, front seat passengers, and passengers 15 and younger in any seating position to wear a seatbelt. The fine and associated costs for not buckling up is $65.


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