New York was the first state to enact a mandatory seat belt law, which may be why the state recently started a campaign to crack down on drivers and passenger who don't buckle up. The Buckle Up New York campaign, which ran from May 21 to June 3, has led to about 12,700 people being issued tickets.
According to the Daily News, NY State troopers "issued a total of 12,692 tickets to motorists or passengers who weren’t wearing seat belts. The tickets included more than 800 issued for child restraint violations." There are two Buckle Up New York crackdowns each year, and the News adds, "During 2011, more than 300,000 tickets were issued statewide to motorists who violated the state’s seat belt law, including some 80,000 issued by state police."
The NY State Police estimate that 148 lives a year could be saved if people wore proper safety restraints in vehicles. Also, cab passengers—please buckle up because those safety dividers are really hard.
