Do you wear your seat belt? If you drive in Sonoma County, very likely. If you drive in Lake County, not so much.

In fact, according to the latest survey by the state Office of Traffic Safety, Lake County drivers were ranked the second worst in the state, with 87.5 percent using their seat belts

Sonoma County motorists were the 18th best out of 39 counties surveyed at 95.4 percent compliant, but Mendocino County ranked near the bottom at No. 33, or 91.8 percent.

The best county for seat belt use was Tehama in the Central Valley at 97.8 percent. The worst was Santa Clara at 83.9 percent. Statewide, the average was 95.3 percent.

Chris Cochran of the Office of Traffic Safety said officials have no real idea why some counties do better than others, although rural counties often score lower than urban counties.

The annual survey was issued as part of a “Click It or Ticket” campaign being conducted statewide the rest of this month. The state has sent extra money to participating police agencies to put more officers on patrol to look for seat belt violators. Locally, the CHP and Santa Rosa and Sebastopol police are joining the crackdown, Cochran said.

Cochran said the survey was done for the office by a research company that sent workers to the different counties to watch for seat belt use on certain roads.

In Sonoma County, seat belt violators face a ticket fine of $142. That’s a $20 base fine plus $122 in various fees and assessments. For an explanation of how that works, click here for an earlier story.