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ATLANTA -- Nine out of ten Georgians are buckling-up and saving lives on Georgia highways according to figures released by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.  In an observational survey completed during the summer, researchers concluded 90-percent of Georgia drivers and passengers were using seat belts or child safety seats.

The latest highway safety figures were announced in time for the start of the "Click It or Ticket" safetybelt enforcement campaign that begins November 15th and runs through the Thanksgiving holiday travel period ending November 28th.  More than 500 local law enforcement agencies statewide and the Georgia State Patrol (GSP) will be participating in the November 2010 "Click It or Ticket" mobilization.

"Regular seat belt use is the single most effective way to protect motorists and reduce fatalities in vehicle crashes," said Bob Dallas, Director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). "There were 213 fewer lives lost in highway crashes here in 2009 than during the previous year (2008),” said Director Bob Dallas.  “However, we must continue to remind drivers and passengers about the importance of safetybelt use, because hundreds of other Georgians will not be gathering with their families during the holidays this year due to their choice not to use their seat belts."

More than half the Georgians killed in car crashes in 2008 were NOT wearing safetybelts.  Yet seat belts reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat occupants in passenger cars by 45-percent, and by 60-percent in pickup trucks, SUVs, and minivans.

This holiday travel period, police will use concentrated patrols and safetybelt roadchecks to continue to push aggressively for seat belt compliance for the ten-percent of Georgians who do not buckle-up. As in a growing number of states, Georgia’s primary safetybelt law authorizes traffic enforcement officers to write seat belt tickets whenever they observe drivers or passengers who are unbelted.  A new Georgia law now requires pickup truck occupants to buckle-up too.

“Georgia’s high-profile seatbelt patrols and roadchecks are having a measurable effect on safety belt use,” said GOHS Director Dallas.  "Taking two seconds to buckle-up can save your life or the life of a loved one. It's still your best defense against a crash with a drunk driver this holiday."

During last year’s 102-hour Thanksgiving travel period the Georgia State Patrol reported 3,089 crashes, 730 injuries and 12 fatalities.  “Seat belts are about lives saved and family tragedies prevented. Officers are saving the lives of fellow Georgians every time they cite drivers for unbuckled seatbelts or child safety seats,” said Director Dallas. “If we can all help prevent or reduce the heartbreaking calls and visits made by police to the families of crash victims this Thanksgiving, we will make a real difference in the future of our communities.”

Remember to buckle up…every seat, every trip, every time...Day and Night.” For more information on the Georgia Click It Or Ticket enforcement campaign and other lifesaving highway safety initiatives, visit www.gahighwaysafety,org... Day or Night.