May 23, 2008

With the Memorial holiday approaching, law enforcement agencies will continue efforts to ensure all motorists are buckled up by conducting federally funded safety belt enforcement zones.

Last Memorial Day weekend, 12 people died on Michigan roadways and half of them were not buckled up. In fact, despite the state's 94 percent safety belt use rate, hundreds of motorists die ? unbelted ? each year.

Safety belt enforcement programs are designed to save lives by increasing safety belt use. Much of the enforcement takes place in the form of nearly 775 daytime safety belt enforcement zones in 55 counties.

The campaign is supported by two key elements including paid advertising and public information, which is targeted at young men, who are least likely to buckle up, and enforcement, where any motorist who is not buckled up has an increased risk of receiving a citation during the two-week enforcement period.

And because as the sun goes down so does belt use, agencies in Barry, Bay, Berrien, Cass, Eaton, Ionia, Jackson, Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Menominee, Midland, Monroe, Oceana, Otsego, Roscommon, Saginaw, Sanilac, Schoolcraft, Shiawassee, St. Joseph, Washtenaw and Wayne counties are conducting roving, nighttime safety belt patrols throughout the enforcement effort. Crash forms consistently indicate that safety belt use in Michigan falls dramatically between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. In 2007, 102 vehicle occupants ? mainly men ? died unbelted in nighttime crashes.

The Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning is coordinating the Buckle Up or Pay Up, Click It or Ticket mobilization, providing federal traffic safety funds for overtime patrols to nearly 300 Michigan law enforcement agencies. By providing law enforcement agencies with overtime funding, officers can concentrate on safety belt enforcement without taking away from their day-to-day duties.

Michigan law requires all drivers and front seat passengers to be buckled up and children under age 4 to be in an approved child safety seat. It also requires passengers 15 and younger to be buckled up in all positions. As of July 1, all children under age 8 and shorter than 4'9" will need to ride in a child safety or booster seat.

A listing of planned safety belt enforcement zones and enforcement activity can be found at the OHSP Web site: www.michigan.gov/ohsp.