Seat Belt Survey

More drivers in Northwestern Minnesota are buckling-up but the region still has the lowest seat-belt compliance rate in the state.   The survey finds just under 74-percent of motorists in the eleven county region use seat-belts.   A similar statewide survey suggests over 93-percent of Minnesotans buckle-up. Minnesota Zero Deaths Coordinator Holly Kostrzewski says urban drivers tend to have a higher belt use rate.  The survey was conducted in june.  In 1986 when Minnesota first passed a buckle-up law belt compliance was around 20-percent and the state recorded 280 unbelted deaths.  There were 120 unbelted deaths in 2011.