MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE ALBANY, Ga. -- Safety is strictly enforced in the Marine Corps, and the safety manager of the Marine Corps is touring several bases to ensure that it stays a priority.
Col. Henry Dewey III, Headquarters Marine Corps safety director, and Charles Hurley, of the National Safety Council, visited several parts of the base Tuesday. Dewey and Hurley stopped by MCLB Albany while on a national campaign to enforce seatbelt use among Marines.
Dewey stressed the Click it or Ticket Program, a national campaign designed to encourage the use of seatbelts and child restraints and to discourage driving while drinking.
While at the Maintenance Center, Dewey and Hurley received information on a couple of the Maintenance Center's safety practices. They were shown some of the results of the implementation of the Lean Thinking Program and the Safety Training Observation Program.
According to David Hudson, division safety technician at the Maintenance Center, since the implementation of the STOP program approximately four and a half months ago, safety mishaps have decreased and those that do occur are less damaging.
Dewey and Hurley learned about the differences the Lean Thinking Program has made at the Maintenance Center. They were shown before and after pictures of how some sections of the Maintenance Center were scaled down to more manageable and cleaner areas due to the implementation of the policy.
Col. Stephen Foreman, the Maintenance Center director, also took them on a walk-through tour of the facility.
According to the Georgia Office of Highway Safety website, implementing the Click It or Ticket Program has saved the states millions of taxpayers' dollars and more than a hundred motorists' lives over the past two years.
According to the website, the May 2001 Click It or Ticket education and enforcement wave resulted in Georgia's overall seatbelt use reaching an all-time high -- 79 percent, which was up from 73.6 percent in 2000 and just 51 percent in 1996.
It is estimated that the approximate 6-percent increase of seatbelt use between 2000 and 2001 as a result of Click It or Ticket saved 74 lives, prevented 1,191 injuries on Georgia's roadways, and saved the state $111,593,045.