Minnesota Authorities Issue 2,000+ Seat Belt Citations During Enforcement Push

(KNSI) – During a two-week enforcement campaign, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and its law enforcement partners cited 2,070 Minnesotans for seat belt violations.

State patrol personnel issued 55 citations in the St. Cloud area between May 24th and June 6th.

Additionally, DPS says 91 child seat citations were issued in the state during the enforcement campaign, including in one instance where Buffalo Lake Police pulled over a driver whose child was in a car seat but wasn’t properly restrained.

The state says people forgoing seat belts is contributing to an already deadly year on Minnesota’s roads. By this date in 2020, 125 people had died in traffic accidents in Minnesota. To date in 2021, there have been 177 fatalities on Minnesota’s roads and highways. DPS says 42 of those fatalities were people who were not buckled up.

“The consequences of not buckling up, combined with impaired driving, distraction and the high rate of speeding, are killing people at a rate that should influence every Minnesotan to drive smart and make the right choices whenever they’re on the road,” says Mike Hanson, director of DPS’s Office of Traffic Safety.

___