Sheriff to beef up seat belt patrol

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office will be stepping up seat belt enforcement next week as part of the national “Click It or Ticket” campaign.

In an effort to get teenage drivers to buckle up, additional patrols and enforcement zones will be used Monday through Jan. 20. Anyone not wearing a seat belt will be ticketed.

In 2006, 72 drivers and passengers ages 16 to 20 were killed in crashes in Colorado, and 49 of them were not wearing a seat belt at the time, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says.