Saikat Karmakar of Fayette County High School has been announced as a winner in a statewide seatbelt safety poster, public service announcement and essay contest. Karmakar won first place in the essay contest at the state level.

Edmund Smith of Whitewater Middle School is the first place winner in the poster contest in the 6-8 grade category at the state level.

Each year the Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute (GTIPI) conducts a statewide contest on “Why You Should Wear Seatbelts and/or Use Child Safety Seats.” Students in grades K-12 in all public, private and home schools statewide are encouraged to participate. The contest is conducted in February during the National Child Passenger Safety Awareness Week.

This is the 19th year GTIPI has held the contest. Nearly 30,000 students from 155 schools competed in this year’s event. The first-place winners at the school level compete at the county level, and those winners move on to compete at the state level. The contest was coordinated locally by John Babcock of the Fayette County 4-H Program and Cooperative Extension Service.

State-level winners receive a monetary prize contributed this year by Safe Kids Georgia and an award plaque from GTIPI. Led by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Safe Kids Georgia is a nonprofit organization whose mission is eliminating the number one killer of children, unintentional injuries.

GTIPI’s goal in sponsoring the contest is to increase awareness about the importance of wearing seat belts and using child safety seats properly. “Vehicle crashes are the number one killer of people between the ages of 1 and 34,” says Frankie Jones, GTIPI Director. A seat belt is your best protection in a crash, saving an estimated 12,000 lives each year according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). “The single most important decision you can make about your personal safety is to wear a seatbelt,” Jones said.

Georgia law requires adults riding in the front seat to wear seatbelts, and all occupants under age 18 in a vehicle to be secured by proper restraint devices. NHTSA recommends all children under age 8 and less than 4’ 9” in height be secured in child restraint systems approved for their age, weight, and height, installed according to manufacturer’s instructions.

GTIPI is a part of the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service. Supported by a grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, GTIPI is the largest traffic safety education outreach program in Georgia. For more information about traffic safety, seatbelt use, or child safety seats, call (800) 342-9819 or visit GTIPI online at www.ridesafegeorgia.org.

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