More Mainers buckled up last year and a pro racecar driver from Gorham and Gorham’s police chief touted the use of seatbelts.

Jason Webster, 30, who drives in a sports series at Beech Ridge Speedway, said he automatically clicks his seatbelt when getting in a car on or off the track. “It’s second nature in racing,” Webster said.

Webster, who works for an auto dealership as a mechanic, said seatbelts and airbags in the newer cars work together for ultimate safety. Webster also once served as a firefighter. “I’ve seen some bad accidents. The victims would have been better off wearing seatbelts,” Webster said.

Gorham Police Chief Ron Shepard believes seatbelt use increased in Gorham last year although he didn’t have statistics. He said seatbelts have reduced injuries and saved lives. “No doubt about it,” Shepard said.

Police in Gorham wrote 229 summonses for seatbelt violations through mid November last year. Gorham was one of 85 police departments in Maine that participated in a two-week seatbelt enforcement that over Memorial Day last year.

During that statewide enforcement, Gorham officers stopped 260 vehicles. They handed out 102 summonses and 48 warnings for seatbelts and 86 summonses for other violations.

Failing to buckle seatbelts is costly for those receiving summonses. Sherry Wilkins, statistician for the Maine courts, said the state took in $530,000 in seatbelt fines during the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2004. Including an administrative fee, Wilkins said the first seatbelt offense is $70; second offense, $160; and third, $310. Maine averages more than 8,000 seatbelt violations a year.

Lillian Grant, 91, of Gorham doesn’t drive these days but buckles her seatbelt when riding as a passenger. She has always made use of a seatbelt. “I buckled before most people did,” Grant said.

The Maine Department of Public Safety said a survey this past summer indicated 75.8 percent of Mainers buckled their seatbelts last year. Maine’s figure, third among New England states, is up from 59 percent in 2003 and 72.6 percent in 2004.

Maine Public Safety Commissioner Michael P. Cantara is encouraged by the improvement. “Maine has made significant progress, but more work remains,” he said.

Maine is still lagging behind the national average of 82 percent for 2005. “We want to strive to get up to the national average,” said Carl Hallman of Maine Public Safety.

According to National Highway Traffic Administration, that’s the highest level in the nation’s history. At a rate of 82 percent, the NHTA estimated that seatbelts are saving 15,700 fatalities, 350,000 injuries and $67 billion in economic costs a year.

Steve McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said Maine has a secondary seatbelt enforcement law, which means a driver would have to be pulled over for another violation.

Connecticut is the only New England state that has a primary seatbelt law, which allows an officer to cite without seeing another violation. Connecticut tallied 81.6 percent in seatbelt usage last year. Vermont led New England states in seatbelt use percentages with 84.7. The others are Rhode Island, 74.7; Massachusetts, 64.8; and New Hampshire was unreported but was at 49.6 in 2004.

School buses are not required to be equipped with seatbelts in Maine. Laurie Anderson, director of transportation for the Gorham School Department, said research has shown that seatbelts weren’t necessary for school buses because of the compartmentalized seat arrangements.

“A school bus is the safest form of transportation in the country,” Anderson said.

Anderson said statistics have proven that seatbelts wouldn’t have helped in school bus accidents that have happened nationally. She said in an emergency, like a bus stalling on a railroad track, it would be impossible to get 60 to 70 kids out of buses in a timely fashion if they were wearing seatbelts.

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