'Click It or Ticket:' 1,125 Minnesota motorists didn't buckle up and were cited in weeklong crackdown

Law enforcement cited 1,125 motorists in Minnesota who were not wearing their seat belts during a one-week enforcement and safety awareness campaign.

Another 39 drivers were ticketed for not properly restraining children in car seats during the statewide effort conducted Sept. 17-23, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) said.

Minnesota law requires that drivers and passengers in all seating positions must wear seat belts or be in the correct child restraint. A ticket costs $25 but can rise to more than $100 with court fees.

All children must be in a child safety seat until they are 4 feet 9 or at least 8 years old, whichever comes first.

The 2022 Minnesota observational seat belt survey showed 93% compliance for front-seat occupants. But unbelted motorists remain one of the leading causes of deaths in traffic crashes in Minnesota, according to the DPS.

Preliminary counts showed 87 unbelted motorists died on Minnesota roads last year compared with 110 in 2021 and 105 in 2020.

As of Sept. 24, 57 people not wearing seat belts have died on state roads, the fewest as of that date since 2019, DPS said.