FARMINGTON – The Farmington Police Department will participate in the 2009 national Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement planned for May 18 through the end of the month.

The department will join thousands of other state and local law enforcement agencies nationwide enforcing seat belt laws.

Local officers order motorists to court who are not wearing seat belts, which means a $70 fine for drivers and passengers.

Patrolmen will be monitoring seat-belt usage even closer during the campaign, said a department representative.

Programs such as the Click It or Ticket have helped increase the national seat belt usage rate to 83 percent in 2008, a 25-percent increase over the past 14 years.

For anyone who complains about getting a ticket for not buckling up when driving or riding in a motor vehicle, the department offers these National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics: 41,059 people were killed on America’s roadway in 2007; over 14,000 passengers killed in 2007 were not wearing seat belts at the time of the crash; nearly 2.5 million people were injured in crashes and motor vehicle crashes costs the U.S. economy an estimated $230.6 billion every year.