Orono and Wayzata Police Issue 74 Tickets in Seat Belt Campaign

(Patch Field Editor Zac Farber wrote this article.)

Lake Minnetonka-area cities participated in a two-week, statewide Department of Public Safety (DPS) "Click It or Ticket" enforcement campaign that ended June 2. 

Orono police issued 58 tickets for not wearing a seat belt in a motor vehicle. Wayzata police issued 16. 

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office issued an additional 15 seat belt citations and one for a child-seat violation.

Citations were given to more than 10,342 motorists across the state in the campaign, including 256 for violations of child safety laws.

“With drunk, distracted and aggressive drivers on the road, everyone in the vehicle needs to be buckled up,” Donna Berger, director of the DPS traffic safety office, said in a statement. “The Click It or Ticket campaign encourages motorists to make safe, smart decisions to prevent deaths and injuries.”

Here are some figures provided by the DPS about the risks of driving without a seat belt:

• There are around 120 unbelted traffic deaths each year in Minnesota. 
  
• In the last three years in Minnesota (2010–12), there were 852 vehicle occupant traffic deaths, of which 361 (42 percent) were not buckled up.

• Of the unbelted deaths, 84 percent were in Greater Minnesota and 42 percent were motorists ages 16–29.

This year's seat belt campaign caught fewer people than the department's 2012 effort, which cited 12,639 motorists.