Seat belt violators stopped

    Local law enforcement agencies stopped more than a couple dozen motorists for seat belt violations in Washington Thursday night. Washington County Chief Deputy Jared Schneider said a total of 33 stops were made from 7 to 9 p.m. at a single intersection in the city ? East Washington Street and Sourth Second Avenue. The Iowa State Patrol, Washington County Sheriff?s Department and Washington Police Department participated in the effort.

    Schneider said that a team of spotters was positioned near the intersection. If they could be certain someone in the front seat of the car was not wearing a seat belt, they radioed to the other officers to stop the vehicle.

    ?Our focus last night was on seat belts, but if we uncovered other violations, we dealt with those, too,? said Schneider. ?We did not make any arrests.?

    Schneider said he thought that 33 stops in a two-hour period was ?significant.? He said that there may have been even more violations than that.