Police all across Michigan will be conducting a Click It or Ticket seatbelt enforcement campaign starting next week.

Michigan State Police Lieutenant DuWayne Robinson tells us as Memorial Day approaches, drivers are reminded of the major difference buckling up can make in the event of a crash. That’s as seatbelt use has declined in Michigan in recent years.

“Study after study shows that it saved lives,” Robinson said. “Just a simple walking in and out the seatbelt, having kids in car seats, reduces the chance for severe injury or death.”

Robinson says as a law enforcement officer, he’s seen what can happen when someone doesn’t buckle up.

“I’ve seen some situations where people were severely injured or lost their life, and the only thing that we can point to is that they were unbuckled.”

There were 223 people killed in Michigan while not wearing seat belts in 2023, which accounted for 39.5% of all fatalities for which seat belt use was known, according to the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute. A total of 285 people in crashes in 2023 were ejected while not wearing a seat belt. That same year, Michigan’s seat belt use rate was 92.4%, a decrease of 0.5% from 2022.

Click It or Ticket starts May 19 and will run through June 1 with police conducting extra patrols at the state, county, and local level as officers watch out for people not using their seatbelts.