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Buckle up. We've heard it time and time again. But still, seat-belt use in Arizona this year dropped below the national average.

Statewide only 78 percent of motorists wear their seat belts — nationally the rate is 81 percent.

But Pima County seat-belt use surpassed both the state and national rate, with more than 89 percent of motorists buckling up, said Michael Hegarty, spokes-man for the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

Pima County was also No. 1 in the state for child-restraint use — 94 percent — and motorcycle helmet use — 85 percent, he said.

The state's seat-belt rate for 2006 dropped significantly from the previous year when 93 percent of motorists were buckling up, according to a news release from the highway safety office.

"It is very discouraging to see Arizona's set-belt usage drop so dramatically in one year," said Richard Fimbres, director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety. "This below-average usage rate shows the importance of the Arizona Legislature to pass a primary seat-belt law, which often leads to double-digit usage increases in those states."

In Arizona, the law requires only that front-seat passengers and anyone under 16 wear a seat belt. But officers must observe another violation before stopping an unbuckled motorist, which is not the case with a primary seat-belt law.

Passing that kind of law would bring more than $12 million in federal funds for highway safety programs, the news release said.

National research estimates that 45 percent of unbuckled fatalities would have survived had they worn a seat belt — for 2005 in Arizona, that would be 229 people who wouldn't have died.

The survey was conducted from June 23 to July 11 by Behavior Research Center in Phoenix at several random sample sites in the following counties: Pima, Coconino, Yavapai, Cochise, Yuma and Maricopa.

The sites used in the 2006 survey were the same ones used the year before.