The Fargo Police Department was awarded a $14,000 North Dakota Department of Transportation Grant to assist the NDDOT in achieving the traffic safety goals identified in the Vision Zero Plan and Highway Safety Plan in 2021. The goal of this enforcement is to increase seat belt use to decrease the severity of injuries and trauma sustained in crashes by providing high visibility enforcement within the City of Fargo to deter motorists from driving or riding in a motor vehicle without the appropriate use of occupant protection (i.e. seat belt or child passenger safety seat.)
During the latest enforcement period, July 1 through August 19, officers had 93 enforcement contacts, and issued 29 safety belt citations out of 97 total citations.
According to the NDDOT, 46% of motor vehicle fatalities in North Dakota were not wearing seat belts in 2019.
In North Dakota the seat belt laws say:
• All front seat occupants must be properly buckled up regardless of age.
• All occupants younger than 18 must be properly restrained regardless of their location in a vehicle.
• Children younger than 8 years of age are required to ride in a child restraint (car seat or booster seat.)
• A correctly used seat belt may be substituted for children under than 8 years of age who are at least 4’9” tall.