Drivers should buckle up, otherwise the police will buckle down.

The law allows for officers to stop motorists for not wearing a safety belt in the front seat, if a child 4- to 15-years-old is not properly buckled up, or if a child passenger under 4-years-old is not in an approved child safety seat.

Lansing police Lt. Ray Hall said officers can pull motorists over for not wearing safety belts. He said even by wearing it partially, an officer can issue a citation for violating seat belt laws.

“We believe there is a segment of the population that uses the restraint belts, and most of us try to not violate the law,” he said.

But drivers who think they are buckling up properly might not be.

Hall said patrol officers are seeing an overwhelming majority of people wearing seat belts, but not doing it properly.

“We prefer to educate, rather than issue citations in an attempt to try to clear up the use of the belts,” he said.

Motorists who don’t use the chest strap are able to receive a citation as much as those who don’t buckle up at all. Hall said he wants the general public to understand that wearing the entire restraint is important.

Zoology senior Carrie Hubbarth said she wears her entire seat belt.

“I want to protect myself in an accident,” she said.

While some may be ignorant of the correct way to buckle up, many don’t use the restraints at all. A 1999 survey reported only 70 percent of drivers and front-seat passengers in vehicles buckle up. The amount of drivers between the ages of 16-to 29-years-old who wear their safety belts had dropped from 64 percent to about 57 percent.

East Lansing police Lt. Kevin Daley, however, has seen younger people buckle up.

“I have a 17-year-old, and it is quite amazing because they don’t get in a car without wearing one,” he said.

Daley said the education received by children who are now young adults has showed them the importance of buckling up.

“It is a big thing with those kids, which is good,” he said.

While it is against the law not to buckle up, just how a safety belt is worn is debatable.

Daley said the written definition for required safety belts said “each driver shall wear a properly adjusted and fastened safety belt.”

Daley said the law has allowed for some interpretation, so it could be up to the judge if the citation was deserved or not when a person does not wear a seat belt properly.

“In my opinion, could that person get a ticket? Yes,” he said. “But it depends on the situation.”

While the law isn’t exact as to the proper way to buckle up, there are motorists who aren’t required to.

Motorcycles, buses, mopeds and vehicles manufactured before 1965 are all vehicles which don’t require drivers to wear safety belts.

Daley said vehicles before 1965 didn’t always come with the restraints.