Some Yakima County Residents Still Ignore Seatbelt Law

It's the law in Washington state but plenty of people still apparently ignore seat-belts and while the seat-belt rate in Yakima County is close to 95 percent.  State Troopers say the contacts they've made with drivers not wearing their seat belts has continued to grow since 2010 when 41 hundred citations were issued. Last year 48 hundred citations were given to unbuckled drivers and when comparing the first seven months of this year to last, that number is still on the rise with more than 300o tickets issued so far this year.  State Patrol Lieutenant Terry Liebrecht says unbelted fatalities average about 50-percent of all fatalities in Yakima County. It’s a number that has stayed the same over the years, even as overall fatalities have dropped.  the issue appears to be worst in the lower valley. WSP says it's the result of a lot of high-traffic intersections, and law enforcement's limited ability to hand out citations to those enrolled on the reservation. Troopers say the vast majority of drivers in the state do voluntarily wear their seat-belt.  The current compliance rate is 98 percent.