Less than two weeks after the state’s primary safety belt law went into effect, more people are buckling up on Clallam and Jefferson county roads.
“The word has gotten out,” Washington State Patrol Trooper Dave Sue said Friday. “They are aware they’re going to get a ticket.”
Since June 13, law enforcement officers have stopped motorists and fined them $86 for driving or riding in a vehicle without wearing a seat belt.
But a state patrol survey at two major highway intersections in Clallam and Jefferson counties indicates more people are buckling up, Sue said.
At U.S. Highway 101 and state Route 20 in Jefferson County, 98 percent of motorists were buckled up last week, he said.
And 96 percent of motorists at Highway 101 and state Route 112 in Clallam County obeyed the law during the survey, he said.
The overall seat belt use rate for both counties was 84 percent this month and 82 percent in May, Sue said.
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