WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Click It or Ticket kicks off
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By Justin Burrows - email
LIBERTY COUNTY, GA (WTOC) - It's routine for many of us to get in the car and put on the seatbelt, second nature even. But on Monday, the State of Georgia stepped up to give us a reminder.
As part of the Click It or Ticket campaign, Georgia State Patrol and other law enforcement agencies set-up check points to make sure drivers were properly secured.
Checkpoints were set-up on Highway 17 in Liberty County and will be going on throughout the holiday period as part of the 'Buckle-Up Country' campaign, which is similar to "Click or Ticket" only it focuses on rural roads. Georgia is one of three states participating in this program, the others are Florida and Tennessee.
"All we are trying to do is keep people safe on all the highways in the state of Georgia, but those secondary roads is where we're killing most of our people," said Captain Matt Libby with the Port Wentworth Police Department.
According to the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, only 25% of Georgia's population lives in rural areas, but the number of deadly crashes on country roads accounts for more than half of all Georgia traffic deaths.
A fact, some driver's say keep them strapped in.
"A life-changing situation, I had a friend who passed away because he didn't have a seat belt on so thats why I wear mine," said Carlvarius Howard, who came through the check-point.
But not all the drivers felt seat belts were necessary.
"Obviously I dont' have mine on, I believe if you want to wear it, wear it, if you don't, don't," said driver William Bates.
Sergeant 1st Class Chad Riner with Georgia State Patrol says there isn't one group of people who chose not to wear their seat belts.
"Its a variety of all ages, males, females, it doesn't really matter, just some of it is forgetting and some people just adamant they wont wear it," said Riner.
And Riner says while some drivers will receive tickets on this day, it's not about costing them money, but saving their lives.
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