With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up this week, law enforcement is asking everyone to fasten their seat belts when traveling on the roads.

Jefferson Police Captain Heath Enns says they are once again working with the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau with their special Traffic Enforcement Program (sTEP) Wave during Thanksgiving.

“What they’re asked to do is to educate the public. Not so much (issuing) citations or anything along that line. Just educate the public, keep your seat belts on, obviously not drinking and driving. The goal is to save lives and seat belts and keeping intoxicated individuals off the road is definitely going to help that.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2015 nationwide, there were 301 passenger vehicle occupants killed in traffic crashes during Thanksgiving weekend and only 50-percent of those killed were wearing seat belts. Here in Iowa, there were five fatalities during the same time period in 2015 and 2016.

Enns reminds everyone to wear their seat belts at all times when traveling in a vehicle, because it is the state’s law.