Chick-fil-A, Inc. today announced a three-year extension of a partnership with the governor’s office of highway safety (GOHS) to conduct the Georgia Teen Safe Driving program, a statewide program encouraging teenage drivers to buckle up.

Chick-fil-A Founder Truett Cathy (right) offers Governor Roy Barnes a free Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich to kick off the Georgia Teen Safe Driving Program.

Participating Chick-fil-A® restaurants will award coupons for free Chick-fil-A® Chicken Sandwiches to student drivers found to be wearing seatbelts at “safe driving” checkpoints set up by local law enforcement officers at high schools throughout Georgia.

With nearly 100 restaurants participating in the distribution of more than 50,000 free Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich coupons during 2000, Chick-fil-A and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety hope to have “safe driving” checkpoints conducted by various local law enforcement authorities for every high school in Georgia over the next three years.

To celebrate the 2000 launch and three-year extension of the campaign, Chick-fil-A founder and CEO, Truett Cathy and Gov. Roy Barnes met at Chick- fil-A’s South Fulton headquarters to announce the statewide initiative and to acknowledge the success of the program’s initial launch. Also on hand were Yvonne McBride, director, Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, representatives from state, sheriff, and county police departments throughout Georgia, and Dr. Ted Neuman, principal of Duluth High School in Gwinnett County.

“Not only do we promote safe driving, but we also promote goodwill between the community’s youth and local law-enforcement agencies,” said Truett Cathy, Chick-fil-A founder and CEO. “We’ve received tremendous feedback from the communities where this program has been initially implemented.”

According to McBride, “Educating teen drivers is an absolute priority. The ultimate goal of this program is to promote the use of seatbelts by teen drivers in an effort to prevent unnecessary motor vehicle injuries and fatalities.”

Starting two years ago, Chick-fil-A conducted a safe-driving pilot program on a local level with Gwinnett County that was initiated through a partnership with the Duluth Police Department. The Duluth pilot program’s success gave rise to the statewide program.

“The program was very successful in strengthening relationships between the youth and local police,” said Neuman, whose high school helped pilot the program two years ago. “I am sure the program will enjoy equal success on a statewide basis.”

Statistics indicate car accidents are the number one cause of death among teenagers. The risk of crash involvement per mile driven among teens is four times the risk among adults.