LAPD to Officers on Duty: Buckle Up, It’s The Rule

LOS ANGELES (AP) — If you've ever been pulled over by a police officer for not wearing a seat belt, there's a decent chance the officer also wasn't buckled up either.

While 86 percent of Americans now wear seatbelts, an upcoming study that'll be published by California officials estimates that roughly half of law enforcement officers don't wear them.

With traffic-related fatalities the leading cause of death of officers on duty, departments nationwide are buckling down to get officers to buckle up.

The Los Angeles Police Department has a new seatbelt education effort after Inspector General Alex Bustamante found that up to 37 percent of officers in accidents last year weren't wearing seatbelts.

State laws mandating seatbelt use often exclude police.