BUCKLE-UP FOR A CLICK IT OR TICKET CRACKDOWN!

CLICK IT OR TICKET, GEORGIA! The campaign name may sound the same, but this year law enforcement officers across the state are launching a whole new strategy to save you from yourself if you’re one of those death-defying motorists who won’t wear your safety belt! Police here are running roadchecks day and night this Memorial Day travel period to target drivers and passengers who don’t bother to buckle-up when the sun goes down.

DAY OR NIGHT, IF YOU DON’T CLICK IT, EXPECT A TICKET

Why? Because national safety experts scouring fatality stats from across the country have made a deadly discovery: The proportion of unbuckled crash deaths runs considerably higher at night because many night-drivers have apparently fooled themselves into believing they’re crash-proof.

UNBUCKLED DRIVERS AND PASSENGERS TARGETED IN GEORGIA

“This latest data shows the belief ‘It will never happen to me’ should be added to the list of America’s urban driving legends along with ‘Officer, I only had two beers’ and ‘There must be something wrong with my speedometer’,” said Director Bob Dallas of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS).

ROADCHECKS DURING MAY HOLIDAY TRAVELS

NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has released startling findings that 59-percent of passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2005 were NOT wearing their safety belts when killed during nighttime-hour crashes. This alarming nationwide nighttime highway death toll examined by NHTSA claimed the lives of more than fifteen-thousand Americans in 2005!

IT’S NOT ABOUT WRITING MORE TICKETS, IT’S ABOUT SAVING MORE LIVES!

“So every time Georgia law enforcement officers write safety belt citations during the upcoming Click It Or Ticket campaign, they’ll be thinking about the horrendous highway deaths here in May 2005 that might have had happier endings,” said GOHS Director Dallas. “It’s tragic to report, but without exception, each and every one of Georgia’s crash fatalities on Memorial Day 2005 involved victims who weren’t wearing safety belts.”

CAR CRASHES ARE STILL THE NUMBER ONE KILLER OF OUR KIDS

During the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend in 2005, failure to wear safety belts claimed more lives on Georgia highways than speed and impaired driving combined. The good news is, 77-percent of passenger vehicle occupants involved in serious crashes nationwide survived in 2005, when wearing safety belts correctly.

BUCKLE –UP! EVERY TRIP, EVERY SEAT, EVERY TIME!

But too many folks still need a tough reminder. GOHS H.E.A.T. Units, State Troopers and GSP NightHawk Patrols will roll-out high profile enforcement measures during the Memorial Day holidays. Police from Valdosta to Van Wert.. And deputies from Burke to Baker County will be ticketing day and night. Georgia’s “Primary Safety Belt Law” empowers enforcement officers here to write safety belt citations after simply observing unbelted drivers or passengers.

SUMMER H.E.A.T. BACK IN THE HOLIDAY FORECAST

Since the month of May also marks the start of the One Hundred Days of Summer H.E.A.T. speed and DUI enforcement campaign, this year officers conducting nighttime H.E.A.T. roadchecks will concentrate on late-night safetybelt violators. H.E.A.T. stands for Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic. The One Hundred Days of Summer H.E.A.T. is a multi-jurisdictional traffic safety enforcement campaign designed to safeguard the lives of law-abiding motorists during the major summer travel period from Memorial Day through the Fourth of July and Labor Day holidays. For more information on H.E.A.T. and Click It Or Ticket and other GOHS lifesaving initiatives, visit our website at www.gahighwaysafety,org .. Day or Night..

Governor's Office of Highway Safety--Georgia