Due to the Thanksgiving weekend traditionally one of the heaviest traveled holidays across the country, Kentucky State Police are encouraging citizens to ‘Buckle Up’.
According to State Police, Troopers are partnering with the National Highway Safety Administration’s “Click It or Ticket It’ Thanksgiving enforcement initiative and will beef up patrol as well as efforts to target seat belt usage. They say an added focus will be on impaired driving and commercial vehicle safety.
KSP spokesman Sergeant Billy Gregory says the agency will utilize federal overtime funds to increase the number of troopers and officers on roadways.
Gregory also commended Kentuckians for regularly wearing their seat belts, as the commonwealth currently has an 89.7 percent usage rate.
The ‘Click It or Ticket It’ campaign coincides with Operation C.A.R.E. (Crash Awareness and Reduction Effort), a national enforcement effort, set to take place during the four-day holiday driving season beginning Wednesday evening, November 25, at 6:00 to midnight Sunday, November 29. The joint efforts across the country encourage drivers to buckle up and refrain from impaired driving.
According to the Kentucky Traffic Collision Facts Report, the four-day Thanksgiving holiday travel period accounted for 1,253 collisions with five fatal crashes in 2019.
