The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is urging everyone to buckle up this Memorial Day holiday.

Beginning May 22, law enforcement officials will be out in full force, taking part in the 2017 national Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization and cracking down on motorists who are not belted.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 9,874 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2015 were not wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash.

Unbelted fatalities are more prevalent at night than during the daytime: 51 percent of those killed in 2015 during the overnight hours of 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m. were unbelted at the time of the crash.

From 1975 through 2015, seat belts have saved an estimated 344,447 lives nationwide. So while this year’s Click It or Ticket enforcement mobilization runs from May 22 to June 4, officers will continue to save lives by enforcing seat belt laws throughout the year.

For more on the national Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov.

Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office news release