GA Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, local law enforcement making sure everyone is buckled up before holiday season

ELLABELL, Ga. (WTOC) - Before the travel for Thanksgiving, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety is working with local law enforcement to ensure everyone is wearing a seat belt to save lives.

Preliminary Georgia state crash data showed that 70% of people killed in vehicle crashes in the state last year, around Thanksgiving Day, were not wearing a seat belt.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics show 60% of people killed in traffic crashes during the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend over a five-year period from 2019 to 2023 were not wearing a seat belt.

“If you’ve never had to go knock on a door at 2 o’clock in the morning and tell a family member that one of their family members had just got killed in a crash because somebody was impaired, or because they weren’t wearing their seat belt, or because somebody was distracted in the vehicle then it’s one of those things that you don’t want to have to do,” said GOHS Law Enforcement Coordinator Powell Harrelson. “It’s the worst thing in law enforcement you’d ever have to in the 33 years that I’ve been in law enforcement.”

A survey in Georgia last year found 88% of motorists wear a seat belt, so not everyone is doing the simple task. Law enforcement on Thursday morning at the I-16 eastbound weigh station, including the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office, Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia State Patrol, and Savannah Police Department, wants everyone getting to where they need to be alive.

All agencies will have a much larger presence on the roadways soon with the “Click It or Ticket” campaign starting on November 22.

“We do seat belt enforcement weekly, we do impaired driving all the time, and we also try to reduce speeds in our county,” said BCSO Lt. Tripp Meacham.

The Bryan Co. Sheriff’s Office was awarded a grant from the GOHS to form its Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (HEAT) unit.

“We’re more than happy to do those campaigns because we do want to reduce the risk of crashes in our county,” he said.

The GOHS’ “Click It or Ticket” safety bus made a stop in Ellabell on Thursday, but it’s also traveling to Atlanta, Augusta, and Macon. Nationwide, other agencies are coming up with their own ways to educate and enforce as well.

“Pack that patience, slow down, buckle up, don’t drive impaired, and don’t have any distractions in the vehicle whatsoever,” said Harrelson.

Sgt. Steven Bland with the Chatham Co. Sheriff’s Office said, “as long as we’re helping to make a difference, we are going to continue. I know that every car that I stop, every person that I get in contact with, I’m educating and potentially saving a life.”

They are also going to be checking people’s seating arrangements by ensuring that children under eight are riding in a properly installed child passenger safety seat.

Bland also emphasized that people’s pets need to travel safely too. He said there are products available to ensure a pet has a seat belt attached to them while in the car.