Wednesday, November 22, 2000
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Wednesday, November 22, 2000 |
| Officers ready to
crack down on DUI, child seatbelt violators
By JOHN
MUNFORD
The Fayette County Sheriff's Department, the Fayetteville Police Department and the Peachtree City Police Department will join the Georgia State Patrol this week in Operation ABC Mobilization: America Buckles up Children. The Thanksgiving campaign is aimed at cracking down on drivers who allow young passengers to ride unbuckled. It also targets drunk drivers, since statistics show most children under 14 killed in alcohol-related crashes are riding with a drunk driver. National organizers of Operation ABC predict that many drivers will be ticketed for failing to buckle up children and arrested for driving drunk. Lt. Bryan Woodie of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department said the department will have more deputies on the road Wednesday evening and Sunday in addition to stepped-up enforcement during the entire holiday period. More than 2,000 kids each year are killed in traffic accidents, according to statistics. The campaign is sponsored by the Air Bag and Seat Belt Safety Campaign of the National Safety Council along with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board. Over 8,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States are participating in Operation ABC Mobilization, which began in 1997 to decrease the number of children who are killed in crashes simply because they were unrestrained. Since the campaign began, child fatalities have reduced 17 percent, restraint use for infants rose from 85 percent to 97 percent and the rate of air bag deaths has dropped by nearly 80 percent.
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