Minn. Law Enforcement Launch 'Click it or Ticket' Campaign

DULUTH – It only takes a few seconds to buckle your seat belt and drivers who don't click it will get a ticket."The seat belt law in Minnesota is a primary law which means that we can pull you over," Duluth Police Department Sgt. Ryan Morris said. More than 400 Minnesota agencies are increasing their patrols."We are writing tickets, we're not giving warnings," said Morris. Tickets are going to drivers who are not buckled up. This is all part of the Click it or Ticket campaign, an initiative to get every driver belted for every ride."It's just changing behaviors, changing the habits, changing the mindset of people,” said Morris. “That's what we're hoping to do through these campaigns." Duluth Police say more than half of all roadway deaths in Minnesota are still unbelted drivers and passengers in vehicles."A great majority of those cases, those people would have been saved by wearing their seat belt,” said Morris. Some form of restraint should also be applied to children. "Any child that's 8-years-old or under and actually if they're under 4'9" should be sitting in a booster seat." Law enforcement has a message for people who think they are much safer by not buckling up."That's just ridiculous,” said Morris. “The way cars are made and the way engineering works nowadays those seat belts are there to save our lives." The campaign will run until the end of October. Tickets for not buckling up in St. Louis County will cost drivers $110.