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SPRINGFIELD, ILL. (AP) -- The percentage of Illinois motorists using safety belts has reached a record of more than 92 percent.

Illinois Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig says traffic deaths in the first six months of 2010 are also down.

Hannig says an estimated 92.6 percent of drivers and front-seat passengers are buckling up.

Deaths are down 16.8 percent - 361 in the first half of 2010 compared to 434 during the same period last year.

Safety belt use has climbed 16 percentage points since 2003 - up from 76.4 percent.

The law changed in 2004 allowing police to stop motorists solely for not wearing seat belts.

There were 928 traffic fatalities in Illinois in 2009.

That's the lowest number since 887 in 1921.

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Online:

Safety belt usage: http://www.dot.il.gov/trafficsafety/tsevaluation.html

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