Click it or Ticket Campaign

Michigan motorists are being given a heads-up to “buckle up” as the Memorial Day holiday weekend approaches. The first phase of the annual Click It or Ticket safety belt enforcement mobilization began Monday with an advertising campaign designed to remind motorists of the upcoming two-week enforcement period. The goal is to increase seat belt use to reduce traffic deaths and injuries. In recent years the state’s seat belt use rate has fallen from a high of 97.9 percent in 2009 to 93 percent last year. Since that all-time-high belt use rate, the state’s traffic deaths have increased from 871 in 2009 to 951 in 2013. Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning Director Michael Prince says every 1 percent drop in belt use means about 10 additional traffic deaths. The goal, according to Prince, is to bring belt use back up to 98 percent.