Buckle Up Campaign Awarded

By Billy Vaughn
Staff Writer/Thomaston Times 

If you don't buckle up in Upson County, you will get a ticket.

That's the message from the Upson County Sheriff's Department which was recognized Wednesday by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) for being one of the state's top 10 law enforcement agencies when it comes to enforcing seat belt laws and educating the public.

Last year, the Sheriff's Department wrote 2427 tickets to people not wearing safety belts, which in addition to promoting safety added $265,972 to county coffers.

Sgt. Benji Strange is the coordinator of the Central Georgia Traffic Enforcement Network, which includes law enforcement departments in Upson, Spalding, Monroe, Butts, Crawford and Taylor counties.

Strange said the GOHS has awarded the county two grants, one for $12,500 for traffic enforcement activities and a second for $20,700 for DUI enforcement.

Strange said the larger grant will be used to purchase a "Batmobile" trailer to be used at DUI checkpoints. He said the trailer would be equipped with an intoxemeter and other equipment used to test and apprehend DUI offenders.

In presenting the award, GOHS Deputy Director Rob Mikell said the seat belt is the cheapest and easiest way to save lives.

"The seat belt can reduce the chances of a fatality in a crash by 50 percent and it's absolutely free," Mikell said. "Every bit of data, every study shows that it is absolutely a life saver. Over the course of the years, Georgia's seat belt usage rate has been on the increase and one of the things we attribute that to is campaigns such as this."

Mikell said that in 2003, survey show 84.5 percent of Georgia's motorists routinely use seatbelts "which is the highest usage rate Georgia has ever seen."

Mikell said the goal of the Click it or Ticket Program is to change people's behavior by encouraging them to buckle up.

"We do that first through education to get the word out to remind people to wear their seatbelts. That gets a fair number of people to wear seat belts," he said. "We also use enforcement - in this case the Sheriff's Department - to watch traffic and stop some folks who aren't wearing their seat belts."

GOHS Director of Special Operations Ricky Rich said the Upson Sheriff's Department is one of ten agencies to win the award out of 500 who participated.

"We want to recognize agencies that really step up and really show outstanding participation," he said. "All of the agencies do a great job, but we have some super stars and Upson County certainly has broken through the ranks and has done a great job."