Photographs and Commentary from the May 23rd Click It or Ticket Press Conference

On Monday, May 23rd, the Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS), traffic safety advocates, and educators joined lawmakers and law enforcement from around Georgia to kick-off "Click It or Ticket" at Atlanta's Centennial Park. Local law enforcement agencies across Georgia are now involved in a major enforcement wave of safety belt checkpoints and concentrated patrol activity for May and June.

At the press conference, NHTSA's Southeast Administrator Terry Schiavone talked about this data-driven and road-tested life-saving campaign. Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington was the keynote speaker. Georgia State Patrol Colonel Bill Hitchens told true life and death safety belt stories from the roadways of Georgia. Atlanta radio personality Steve Barnes from 92.9 DAVE FM told his personal story on how safety belts saved the lives of himself and his entire family in a sixty mile an hour rollover nightmare. And, Dan Johnson, President and CEO of Imagemaster Productions, presented the National Association of Government Communicator's Award to Bob Dallas for the "Now Playing" PSA series and mentioned that the same PSA group was nominated for three regional EMMY Awards.

GOHS Director Bob Dallas was proud to introduce the ESUVEE Beast, a 16 foot long, 11 foot wide and 10 foot tall beast representing the ESUVEE Safety Campaign whose mission is to generate awareness of sport utility vehicle safety and to prevent rollover incidences by changing driver behavior, particularly among younger male drivers. The press conference also featured the roll-over simulator and the introduction of the GOHS Commemorative Safety Bracelet, given out to all participants and visitors.

Below are some of the photos from the Click It or Ticket Press Conference. Click on each photo for a larger image.