North Dakota steps up seat belt patrols in May, Jamestown drivers warned

More patrol cars are showing up on Jamestown's busiest corridors this May, and one unbuckled passenger is enough to trigger a stop. North Dakota's seat belt law is primary enforcement, so officers do not need another violation to pull a vehicle over, and the citation is $20 with no points; the law also requires every occupant, front and back, to be buckled when belts are available. That matters in Stutsman County, where U.S. Highway 52 cuts diagonally across the state and through Jamestown’s traffic mix of commuters, farm vehicles and through-travelers.

The enforcement push is part of Click It or Ticket, with law enforcement agencies across North Dakota increasing patrols from May 1 through June 2. Vision Zero says the campaign is aimed at cutting serious injuries and deaths, and the state’s own numbers show why: in 2024, 48% of people killed in North Dakota traffic crashes were not wearing a seat belt. The November-December 2025 campaign produced 3,167 citations statewide, including 2,166 seat-belt citations, 18 child-restraint citations, 337 speeding citations and 27 distracted-driving citations.

Stutsman County is not just a pass-through on the map. The county has 21,593 residents and 2,221.9 square miles of land area, making it the second-largest county in North Dakota by total area. A North Dakota seat-belt survey found Stutsman County had the lowest weighted seat-belt use rate in the state in 2022 at 71.8%, a reminder that the enforcement message is landing in a place where restraint use has lagged.

For families in Jamestown, the consequences of one serious crash can quickly spread to school attendance, farm work and caregiving across a county this large. That is why the patrols matter most on long rural drives and on the approach into town, where a routine stop can turn into a citation before a crash ever happens. State traffic-safety officials say seat belts remain the single most effective way to prevent serious injury or death, and in Stutsman County that warning comes with a local number attached, not just a statewide slogan.