Officers on the lookout for seat-belt violations

5/21/2012

Law enforcement officers in Lucas County will pay extra attention to seat-belt violations during the next two weeks as part of the nationwide Click it or Ticket campaign, the Lucas County Traffic Safety Program announced.

“Law enforcement agencies will be conducting special overtime enforcement and are prepared to ticket anyone not buckled up — no warnings and no excuses,” said Lucas County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Woodruff, coordinator of the Lucas County DUI Task Force.

Under Ohio law, failure to wear a seat belt is not a primary offense, meaning that police may not stop and ticket a driver solely for that reason. A driver pulled over for another reason, however, may be cited for failure to wear a seat belt.

The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office said that its deputies will work extra shifts — funded through a state High Visibility Enforcement Overtime Grant — through June 2 to focus on traffic enforcement during the Click it or Ticket effort.