City and parish motorists can save themselves a little trouble by remembering to engage their seat belts as law enforcement officers will be on the lookout during “Click It or Ticket” enforcement days.

As part of the national Click it or Ticket campaign, the MPD and Sheriff’s Office, along with agencies around the country, will be stepping up their efforts May 19 through June 1 as a part of a larger, national “Click It Or Ticket” mobilization.

“Our officers will enforcing these laws,” said Chief of Police Jared McIver.

“Deputies are always looking to see that drivers are property restrained, and they will be especially focused during this period,” Webster Parish Sheriff Jason Parker said.

“Memorial Day weekend kicks off the summer vacation season and we want to make sure everyone arrives at their destination safe and sound,” McIver said. “If you are not wearing your seat belt you will be ticketed.”

Normal seat belt use rate was 91.2 percent in 2024 and in that year, 22,713 passenger vehicle occupants were killed. Nearly 50 percent of those who died were not buckled.

Of those who were killed during nighttime hours, when the majority of unbelted fatalities occur, 56 percent were unrestrained.

Both McIver and Parker said officers will write citations day and night with a zero-tolerance approach.

“We are determined to bring those numbers down,” McIver said. “There are too many people that are dying on the roads, and many of those deaths could have been prevented if people took the simple step of wearing their seatbelts.”

“We want our people in Webster Parish to understand that engaging their seat belts should be the first thing they do when they get into their vehicle, even before starting their engine,” Parker said. “We do not want to be the ones bringing bad news to someone’s love ones.”