SPRINGFIELD --The Effingham County Sheriff’s Office is working around the clock to make sure Thanksgiving travelers are wearing their seat belts.

It will team up with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and law enforcement agencies across the country on a high-visibility Click It or Ticket campaign to work toward reducing the number of fatalities that occur when vehicle passengers fail to buckle up.

With millions of Americans on the road en route to visit friends and family for the Thanksgiving holiday, it is more essential than ever to ensure all vehicle passengers are buckled up. Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel times of the year.

With more vehicles on the roads, the chances of being involved in a vehicle crash increase greatly. For this reason, law enforcement officers will be patrolling the streets, looking for unbuckled passengers. If they spot you, they will pull you over and issue a ticket.

The Click It or Ticket campaign is designed to save lives by making sure all Effingham County drivers and passengers get the message to wear their seat belts. The 2017 Thanksgiving Click-It or Ticket Campaign began Friday and will continue through Sunday.

So far this year, 1,348 people have died in crashes in Georgia. Of those, 59 percent were not buckled.

For more information about traveling safely this Thanksgiving, please visit www.nhtsa.gov.