Traffic safety laws don’t do much good if they’re not enforced, so it was good to learn that local and state law enforcement units were giving special attention in the last month to a couple of important traffic laws.

During a stepped-up enforcement period in the last half of May, Lawrence police officers cited more than 500 people for not wearing their seat belts. Officers issued 503 tickets to adults not wearing their belts. Thankfully, only nine citations involved young people: six to passengers 14 to 17 and three to drivers with young children not wearing proper restraints.

Considering all of the public attention given to seat-belt use and all the statistics showing how important seat belts are to surviving a collision, the number of citations issued in just a two-week period was surprisingly high. Hopefully, those 500-plus people are now more aware of both the law and the safety advantages of wearing their seat belts.

Not buckling up threatens an individual’s safety, but texting while driving is a threat not only to those who are doing the texting but also to everyone else on the road with them. Officials have said the new law that makes texting while driving illegal in Kansas won’t be easy to enforce, but they nonetheless made a special effort recently and issued 56 citations during a 10-day statewide crackdown.

That number probably represents a small fraction of the people who actually violate the texting-and-driving law during any 10-day period in Kansas, but the crackdown still is worthwhile. Officers say it’s difficult to enforce the law because they have to observe drivers carefully enough to confirm they are using their phones illegally.

It’s true that texting is only one of many activities that can dangerously distract drivers. However, casual observation certainly confirms that cell phone misuse is a common source of driver distraction.

Fifty-six citations isn’t very many, but if it means even 56 Kansas drivers might curb their urge to text, the law and the recent crackdown have had a positive impact.