By Jeffrey Jackson

Owatonna People’s Press

The optimal imperative this weekend and beyond may be these two words: Buckle up.

In case you hadn’t heard, the Minnesota State Patrol and other law enforcement agencies throughout the state are right in the midst of a two-week Click It or Ticket campaign. The campaign is a crackdown on those who don’t wear their seat belts when in the car. That means if you’re out and about in your car and not wearing that seat belt, they’ll be looking for you. The campaign began Monday and runs through the end of the month.

And that means you can bet that there will be plenty of patrol vehicles on the roads this weekend.

The Memorial Day Weekend marks the unofficial beginning of the summer season. You can bet that, even with the threat of rain, many Minnesotans will be headed out to a campground or a lake. The roads are likely to be packed, including vehicles with drivers and passengers who have chosen not to wear their seatbelts.

The state’s Department of Public Safety reported that during last year’s two-week Click It or Ticket campaign, 329 Minnesota law enforcement agencies cited 10,874 motorists for failing to wear their seat belts. That includes 279 child passenger safety seat and booster seat violations.

No wonder the patrol will be out looking again this year.

But, of course, the fear of getting a ticket is not the only reason that you should be wearing that seat belt. There’s also — and most importantly — the safety factor.

Consider these numbers, also from the Department of Public Safety:

• According to preliminary numbers, 30 people who were unbelted have died in crashes so far this year, with 10 of those deaths in April.

• A stunning 86 percent of all unbelted deaths last year happened in Greater Minnesota.

• And 67 percent of drunk drivers killed in 2014 weren’t wearing seat belts.

Of course, buckling up is not the only thing that drivers ought to be aware of when out on the highways this holiday weekend.

We all should be cognizant of the need to reduce our speed. Too many times drivers are so anxious to get from Point A to Point B that they race at unsafe speeds, not only endangering themselves, but their passengers and people in other vehicles. When you have a holiday weekend, that tendency is even greater.

Add to that the fact that far too many vehicle operators, especially over the holiday, will think nothing of drinking and driving and you have the makings of a disaster.

The point is that we all need to be aware of the need for safety whenever we get into a motor vehicle. We especially need to be aware of it when it’s a holiday weekend and more people are traveling. And we need to be aware not simply because it’s the law and more patrols will be out, but because it’s the right thing to do.