LISTEN: North Dakota Highway Patrol Captain Bryan Niewind’s conversation with Kevin Flynn.
NORTH DAKOTA – North Dakota Highway Patrol numbers show deadly crashes have gone down in the state since its primary seat belt law went into effect in August 2023.
It allows law enforcement to pull over a driver if they’re not wearing a seat belt if that’s the only illegal thing they’re doing.
That year there were 105 deadly crashes and 89 in 2024. So far this year, there have been 80 fatal crashes. Captain Bryan Niewind said that amount hasn’t been seen for up to 50 years.
“Traffic was a lot lighter then and we have so much more traffic, so much more population now. There’s more people wearing their seat belts and that’s why we’re seeing that fatal count reduced,” Niewind said on The Flag.
The Highway Patrol says 56% of deadly crashes in North Dakota involve someone not wearing a seat belt.
