More Than 7,000 Ticketed During Buckle Up Campaign

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Safety officials say one of the more than 7,000 people pulled over for seat belt violations in the last few weeks was a woman with a 4-year-old child on her lap. The child was helping to steer the car.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety released numbers Wednesday following a click-it-or-ticket campaign from May 23 to June 5. Some 7,233 drivers were ticketed during that time period, officials said, and 213 people received child restraint citations.

These numbers are about the same as those during a campaign last year. Officials say that long-term trends show that most Minnesotans understand the importance of buckling up.

"Wearing a seat belt is just common sense and it's the law, and thankfully most Minnesotans get it," said Donna Berger, the director of the Office of Traffic Safety.

The agency that gave out the most tickets during the recent campaign period was the State Patrol, specifically in the east metro.

The city police department that gave out the most tickets was St. Paul.

Officials say that wearing a seat belt increases the likelihood of surviving a crash. Numbers from last year show that of the people who died after being ejected from a car, 77 percent of them were not wearing seat belts.