"seat belt" news and stories

Flickr, Termin8er

The increased probability of surviving a car crash hasn't persuaded enough South Carolinians to buckle up, so the state's highway patrol has turned to a more reliable incentive: Chick-Fil-A coupons.

This Thanksgiving, the South Carolina Highway Patrol started rewarding free chicken sandwich vouchers to seat-belted drivers in three counties around Charleston. So far, officers have distributed 1200 coupons.

"We're rewarding people for doing the right thing," Lance Corporal Bob Beres explains.

But the coupons aren't reserved for do-gooders. Officers typically size up drivers for seat belt use when they're pulled over for moving violations, which means a South Carolinian caught speeding could end up with points on his license, a hefty fine, increased insurance premiums and a hand-breaded boneless chicken breast on a buttered bun.

Beres told The Greenville News that it's up to the officer whether a driver stopped for drunk driving gets a sandwich.