Avoid a $124 ticket, and buckle up.

Motorists can expect to see law enforcement patrolling city and county roadways in search of unbuckled or improperly buckled drivers and passengers between May 23 and June 5.

The Auburn, Bellevue, Black Diamond, Burien, Clyde Hill, Covington, Federal Way, Issaquah, Kent, Kirkland, Maple Valley, Mercer Island, Newcastle, North Bend, Pacific, Redmond, Renton, SeaTac, Seattle, Snoqualmie and Tukwila police departments and the Washington State Patrol will be participating in these extra patrols, with the support of the King County Target Zero Task Force.

In Washington state between 2005 and 2009, 2,866 people died in vehicle collisions and another 13,749 were seriously injured. The good news is that traffic deaths among motor vehicle occupants have fallen 32 percent and serious injuries are down 27 percent on Washington roadways since 2002.

“Law enforcement officers would rather have motorists buckle up than write them a seat belt infraction,” said Lowell Porter, director of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. “The evidence is clear that seat belts save lives. By increasing seat belt use, Washington continues to reduce the costs incurred by those who don’t buckle up.”

Statistical analysis shows that wearing a seat belt decreases the chance of dying or being seriously injured in a collision by about 70 percent, compared to an unbuckled motorist. Medical costs from vehicle collisions amount to more than $276 million each year in this state and vast sums of money have been saved by getting motorists to buckle up.

For additional information, visit www.wtsc.wa.gov.