Buckle up and drive safely this long weekend

Friday marks the start of the travel period for this long Memorial Day weekend. Law enforcement officials want to remind you to buckle up before leaving your driveway.

Putting on your seat belt is something drivers and passengers should do whenever they are in a moving vehicle. We remind motorists who routinely violate the state’s seat belt and other highway laws that failing to obey the rules of the road could earn you a ticket.

Federal highway safety officials also say men account for more than half of Americans killed each year. Statistics show young men driving or riding in trucks are the least likely to wear safety belts regularly, which is extremely dangerous since pickups are twice as likely to roll over in a crash.

Over the years, Tennessee has used an aggressive public awareness campaign to reverse those numbers. The “Click It or Ticket” campaign involves checkpoints, patrols and public service announcements to help enforce seat belt laws. Clearly, drivers and passengers in pickup trucks should pay particularly close attention to these admonishments.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies will also be on the lookout this long holiday weekend for drunken drivers.

Driving while intoxicated has many consequences that not only include arrest, court fees and jail time, but serious injury or death — not only for the drunken driver, but for anyone who has the misfortune of meeting him on the highway.

If you are hosting a Memorial Day cookout or picnic that includes alcohol, be sure to offer guests plenty of water and other non-alcoholic beverages, as well as snacks and appetizers.

A good host is watchful of how much alcohol a guest has consumed, and is mindful to cut them off an hour before the party ends.

A good host also knows when to take the keys away from a guest who has had too much to drink.

— Johnson City Press, May 25