May 23, 2005

Michigan law enforcement officials today launched the most aggressive effort to date to increase safety belt use through an intensive two-week enforcement period that will include a record number of safety belt enforcement zones in the majority of the state’s counties.

Michigan law enforcement officials today launched the most aggressive effort to date to increase safety belt use through an intensive two-week enforcement period that will include a record number of safety belt enforcement zones in the majority of the state’s counties.

Last summer’s emphasis on safety belt enforcement boosted Michigan’s safety belt use rate to more than 90 percent and played a role in the nearly 10 percent drop in traffic deaths.

The annual Buckle Up or Pay Up, Click It or Ticket enforcement campaign starts today and runs through June 5 to include the highly traveled Memorial Day holiday period. More than 500 Michigan law enforcement agencies will make safety belt enforcement a priority by taking part in a national campaign focused on saving lives by increasing safety belt use. Much of the enforcement will take place in the form of enforcement zones in 53 counties.

Strict traffic enforcement will continue throughout the summer as the 53 counties conduct local safety belt and drunk driving enforcement throughout June, July and August.

"Successful traffic enforcement campaigns do save lives," said Colonel Tadarial J. Sturdivant, director of the Michigan Department of State Police. "Law enforcement officers take an oath to serve and protect, and that includes enforcing the state’s safety belt laws."

Through a combination of publicity, advertising and enforcement, traffic safety advocates hope to improve upon the state’s already high safety belt use rate. The long-term goal is to reach 93 percent safety belt use by 2008, according to the Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP), which is coordinating the state’s safety belt campaign.

More than 200 law enforcement agencies will receive federal traffic safety funds to conduct safety belt enforcement zones, which will be new in Hillsdale, Montcalm, Otsego, Roscommon and Sanilac counties.

These zones have been instrumental in increasing public awareness of the enforcement campaigns. A safety belt enforcement zone is a specially designated area that includes a special, portable sign and a law enforcement spotter. The spotter radios information regarding unbelted motorists to other police officers working the designated stretch of roadway.

The expanded zones reflect the changing face of the campaign that has spread to areas of the state that are popular tourist and travel destinations, reminding motorists that crashes and fatalities occur regularly on both urban and out state roadways. While half of traffic fatalities in Michigan between 1999 and 2003 have occurred on rural, non-Interstate roads, vehicle travel on these roads accounted for only a quarter of travel during that period, according to a recent report by The Road Information Program (TRIP), a national nonprofit transportation research group.

Zones will take place in metropolitan Detroit (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and St. Clair counties), the tri-county area (Genesee, Lapeer, Saginaw, Sanilac, Shiawassee, Bay, Midland and Roscommon counties), mid-Michigan (Ingham, Eaton, Clinton, Isabella and Jackson counties), West Michigan (Berrien, Kent, Allegan, Ionia, Ottawa, Montcalm, Muskegon, Oceana, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren counties), southern Michigan (Calhoun, Hillsdale, Lenawee, Monroe and Washtenaw counties) northern Michigan (Alpena, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Mason, Otsego, Ogemaw and Wexford counties) and the Upper Peninsula (Chippewa, Delta, Dickinson, Gogebic, Iron, Mackinac, Marquette, Menominee and Schoolcraft counties).

A listing of safety belt enforcement zones can be found at the OHSP website: www.michigan.gov/ohsp.

Read more news releases from the Michigan State Police.