“Click It Or Ticket” Underway

Law enforcement are gearing up for a busy travel week this Thanksgiving holiday.

Georgia is once again conducting a “Click It or Ticket” campaign, where the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, the Georgia State Patrol, and local law enforcement agencies work together to increase emphasis on buckling seat belts when traveling on the highways.

Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley said people are already traveling for the holiday and his office is out looking to help keep the highways as safe as possible.

“It is one of the busiest times to be a motorist on Georgia roads,” said Shirley of Thanksgiving. “While the traffic holiday fatalities and unbelted crashes occur at high rates, we want to be visible.”

According to Shirley, they will be on the secondary roads, as well as the new SR 17 in Stephens County, looking for unbelted drivers.

State officials said that each holiday period, more than one-half of the people killed in motor vehicle crashes are not using safety belts or are driving impaired.

With that in mind, Shirley said his deputies will be looking for traffic violations of all kinds with increased patrols.

“We will also be looking for motorists who may be driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, aggressive driving, or distracted drivers,” said Shirley.

The Georgia Department of Public Safety also reminds motorists to make sure that children are secured properly in a child safety seat.

The official statewide Thanksgiving holiday travel period for law enforcement runs from 6 p.m. Wednesday through midnight Sunday, a total of 102 hours.

Last year, during a similar 102-hour Thanksgiving holiday travel period, state troopers investigated hundreds of crashes that resulted in nine fatalities.