For the fourth straight year the number of tickets written for seatbelt violations dropped (to 6,684), during the latest stepped-up enforcement period ending June 3rd. Mike Hanson with the state Office of Traffic Safety says, “Over 92 percent of Minnesotans take the time — two seconds, that’s all it takes to put that seatbelt on, and that is your best protection against another driver’s mistake.”
Police heard some interesting excuses from drivers who weren’t buckled up: A man in Ely claimed his seatbelt was chewed in half by his dog. In Pike Bay in north-central Minnesota, an officer handed out McDonald’s coupons to teens caught *wearing* their seatbelts to or from school.