Holiday crackdown targets seat-belt scofflaws, DUI

State police are stepping up seat-belt and drunken driving enforcement over the long Thanksgiving weekend.

Police will be scouring roadways in a five-state mobilization effort covering Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio.

Michael Witter is regional administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and he says the goal is to save lives.

During the 2008 Thanksgiving holiday season, the most recent data available, 1,120 people died in vehicle crashes nationwide. In cases with seat-belt information available, more than half of those killed weren't buckled up.

Witter says speeders and car occupants who don't buckle up can expect to be ticketed. And he says anyone caught driving impaired will be prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law."

The Click It or Ticket effort runs Thursday through Sunday.