Beginning Friday, law enforcement agencies will be stepping up enforcement again with "Click it Or Ticket" campaign.
The Metro Valley Highway Safety Program, along with the Governor's Highway Safety Program, are reminding all drivers and passengers to buckle their seat belts, said Sgt. M.W. Kinder of the Charleston Police Traffic Division in a news release.
In 2014 there were 93 unbuckled West Virginians killed in vehicle crashes, according to information from the GHSP. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that if every person in these crashes had buckled their seat belt, 28 of those lives may have been saved.
Nationwide, nearly half of those who lost their lives in road crashes during 2014 were not using their seat belt at the time of the crash. Among teens aged 13 to 15 and young adults aged 18 to 34, the statistics are worse - more than half of those lives lost were of vehicle occupants who were not using seat belts.
Overall, West Virginia's seat belt usage rate has gradually increased more than 8 percent in the last five years, from 82.15 percent in 2010 to 89 percent in 2015, Kinder said. In West Virginia, violation of the seatbelt law is a primary offense and carries a fine of $25. Violation of the child passenger safety seat law carries a fine between $10 and $20.
With funding provided by the GHSP, law enforcement agencies are able to conduct focused patrols on seat belt and child safety seat violations and encourage citizens to drive safely, Kinder said.