Seat belt campaign nets 29 motorists in 2 weeks

The Albert Lea Police Department and Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office cited 29 unbelted motorists during the statewide Safe & Sober seat belt “Click It or Ticket” campaign, which ran from May 19 through June 1.

Twenty-three of the citations were issued by the police department and six were given by the Sheriff’s Office.

“Until every motorist buckles up every ride, Minnesota will continue to see unbelted traffic deaths accounting for more than 200 deaths a year,” Albert Lea Police Lt. J.D. Carlson said. “A seat belt is your best defense on the road against speeding, distracted and impaired drivers.”

Carlson said last year the Albert Lea Police Department made it a department goal to increase seat belt and child seat usage, and with that focus, enforcement of usage has increased.

For this campaign enforcement, the departments conducted pre- and post-surveys, aired a 15-second youth video at Albert Lea High School during the two weeks and displayed “Click It or Ticket” banners around town.

They also conducted nighttime patrols of belt use.

Bob Kindler with the Sheriff’s Office said for the surveys conducted outside of the city within Freeborn County, 64 percent of motorists were belted before the campaign and 69 percent were belted after the campaign.

At this point, he didn’t know what the 5 percent increase was attributed to, but he said it is typical when a campaign like this is conducted. People become more attune to officers being there, so they tend to buckle up more.

Despite the increase from the beginning to the end of the campaign, Kindler said the local numbers are still very low compared to state averages.

Last year, the state average was approaching the mid-80s in percentile of people who belted up, he said. But lower numbers are often reported in more rural areas.

In the last three years in Freeborn County, 11 people have died in vehicle crashes — eight of which were unbelted. Another 18 unbelted motorists were seriously injured.

The estimated economic impact of the unbelted deaths and serious injuries in Freeborn County in 2004 to 2006 is about $10 million.

According to Minnesota Department of Public Safety data reports, from 2004 to 2006, there were 1,274 people were killed in car crashes, of which more than half were not wearing seat belts.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety estimates that around half of those killed would have survived if they were buckled up.

Locally, seat belt citations are $25 but can cost as much as $115 with court costs and added fees.

Safe & Sober, which is coordinated by the Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety, is a component of the state’s Toward Zero Death initiative. The initiative is a multi-agency approach to address traffic issues regionally through enforcement, education, engineering and emergency trauma care and response.

The next Safe & Sober campaign will be in July with a focus on impaired drivers.