Minnesota’s seat belt compliance rate has reached a record high this year at 92.7 percent. This update comes from observational surveys conducted by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety.

Before Minnesota’s first mandatory seat belt law in 1986 seatbelt use was just 20 percent and just 74 percent one decade ago. Department of Public Saftey officials attribute the continued rise in seatbelt use to awareness and enforcement of Minnesota’s primary seat belt law that allows law enforcement to stop and ticket unbelted drivers and passengers.