CHP TO BE AT PEAK FORCE USE SEAT BELTS, OFFICERS WARN.

Byline: Daily News

LANCASTER - More California Highway Patrol officers will be out on Antelope Valley highways and roads over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

The CHP's maximum enforcement period, when 80 percent of officers are on patrol, will start at 6 tonight and run through Sunday.

``This is one of the heaviest holidays for vehicular traffic,'' CHP Officer Henry Ross said. ``We expect a lot of traffic this weekend.''

Traffic traveling along Highway 138 through the Antelope Valley to Interstate 15 was already bumper to bumper Monday night, Ross said.

CHP officers will be cracking down on drivers and passengers who don't wear seat belts. Officials say wearing a seat belt is the easiest and quickest way to survive a crash.

Fifty-six people were killed on California roadways over the 2004 Thanksgiving weekend. Within the CHP's jurisdiction, of the 39 vehicle occupants killed, 15 were not wearing seat belts.

Two people died last Thanksgiving weekend on Antelope Valley highways and roads. A 26-year-old Littlerock woman died the night before Thanksgiving 2004 when her car collided head-on with a big rig on Highway 138, and a 41-year-old Littlerock woman died the following Saturday when her sport utility vehicle hit a tree blown down by wind onto Avenue K east of Lancaster.

Meanwhile, the California Department of Transportation warns travelers to expect heavy traffic during peak periods on Interstate 5 north of Santa Clarita at Templin Highway. Crews continue work to stabilize a mountainside that caused heavy damage to the freeway during rains last winter.

Three northbound lanes and four southbound lanes remain open. Caltrans officials suggest using The Old Road, which parallels the freeway through the Santa Clarita Valley, as an alternate.