The Fayette County Sheriff's Department reports that it has attained one of the highest seatbelt compliance rates in the Southeastern United States, and it is now concentrating its efforts on improving the implementation of child safety seats.

Since 1998, the department has had more than 92 percent compliance on seatbelts, according to a written statement issued last week. But “that success was tempered when the Sheriff's Department discovered that more than 95 percent of Fayette County's child safety seats were being used improperly,” the department went on to say.

The Traffic Enforcement Division now has five child safety seat technicians and four child safety seat specialists trained to inspect and install the seats and educate the public in their proper installation and use.

“Over the last six months the Traffic Enforcement Division has been involved in 14 child safety seat checks where more than 50 unsafe and dangerous seats were removed from use,” the department said. These checks were conducted in Fayette, Clayton, Coweta, Fulton and Spalding counties.