Students are being reminded by the California Highway Patrol to drive safely this Thanksgiving holiday.

With many students hitting the highways over the next five days, CHP Public Information officer, Anne DaVigo said “drivers need to remember to buckle-up.”

“Half of all the fatalities in the most serious accidents could have been prevented if the people were wearing seat-belts,” said DaVigo.

Aside from safety belts, DaVigo also said that students, “with their rush to get home for Thanksgiving,” need to plan enough travel time. “We really want to encourage students to take their time when driving and if they get tired, maybe stop and get a latte,”she said.

For those students who dare the bottle and tempt the wheel, sobriety checkpoints will be in full effect. DaVigo said that DUI arrests and fatalities should be a constant reminder to college students to designate a driver.

“There’s been a lot of stories in the press recently about college students drinking and so we want to remind young people to be careful,” said DaVigo.

According to State traffic agencies, California saw 148 young people killed in 1999 and 4,518 youths injured in alcohol related accidents.

With colder nights and foggier mornings, drivers should also be mindful of weather conditions. DaVigo said that fog can alter a driver’s perception and fool them into thinking they are traveling slower than what their speedometer is actually registering. DaVigo also warned against using a car’s high beams and to look out for message signs relaying various traffic conditions.

Students involved in traffic emergencies may find the cellular-911 service a bit precarious. DaVigo said that CHP takes all cellular-911 calls and that the system can become overloaded by non-emergency calls.

“Cellular-911 should only be used for the most serious emergencies,” said Davigo. “It should only be used in cases of life threatening situations, serious accidents, or a crime in progress.”

She also said that drivers should know their cell phone numbers. The cellular-911 service cannot track a caller’s position and the dispatcher will often need the number to call back in case the conversation is disconnected. However, DaVigo said that problem doesn’t exist for landline phones where emergency officials can trace a caller’s location.

But what does a person do if they break down on the highway? DaVigo said that the yellow call boxes along the road are for non-emergency calls, but be prepared to wait.

Thanksgiving is a “Care holiday” and will be closely scrutinized by traffic officials across the nation. Like many other holidays where more people will be on the roads, Thanksgiving will represent a concerted effort by the states and federal government to reduce crashes over the holiday period.

The Maximum Enforcement Period, which is sponsored by California, will also begin Wednesday night and last through late Sunday night. The statewide program will rely upon all available, on-duty CHP officers to monitor the highways and crack down on all traffic violations.