Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
Operation ABC Mobilization, a nationwide law enforcement effort to get motorists and their passengers to buckle up, will wage a weeklong enforcement wave from Monday until May 27 with 50,000 checkpoints and saturation patrols nationwide to ensure they fasten their belts.
Fines for failing to buckle up vary by state, but are $50 in Illinois and can go as high as $100.
The focus will be on teens, the agency said. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics show that 4,437 teens age 16 to 19 died and thousands more were injured in traffic crashes in 2000, the latest reporting year.
