2-week campaign to enforce seat belt laws

State Police will team with local and county law enforcement agencies in a statewide buckle-up campaign over the next two weeks, according to a news release Friday from the Farmingdale barracks.

Capt. David Candelaria said in a statement that State Police will establish more than 100 checkpoints across the state to monitor the use of mandatory seatbelt use.

The campaign runs May 23 to June 5 and is designed to emphasize the use of seat belts day and night, the release said.

"Perhaps people feel less likely to be stopped at night for not wearing seat belts, but they are putting themselves at tremendous risk," Candelaria said. "We are focusing our enforcement efforts on the behaviors that are injuring and killing people on our roads, and that means safety belt enforcement day and night."

Suffolk County police and Nassau County police also will participate in the "Buckle-Up New York" initiative, both agencies said in separate news releases Friday.

According to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nighttime passengers are among those least likely to buckle up and most likely to die in crashes.

Of those who died in evening crashes in 2009, nearly two-thirds -- 62 percent -- were not wearing seat belts, the release said.

During the two-week enforcement period last year, troopers issued more than 22,000 tickets for safety-restraint violations, including more than 1,500 for not buckling up children.

Candelaria said it is unconscionable for anyone to drive with an unrestrained child.

"Our troopers have seen too many tragedies and will gladly give a driver a ticket to prevent seeing another," he said. "Very simply, it's click it or ticket."