Ga. ends holdout over pickup seat belt law

ATLANTA - Georgia has joined the rest of the nation in requiring adults in pickup trucks to wear seat belts.

Gov. Sonny Perdue on Thursday signed legislation removing the truck exemption from the state's seat belt law.

Georgia had been the last state in the nation to specifically exempt adults in pickups from the requirement to buckle up.

The governor was joined at the bill signing in north Georgia by the legislation's sponsor, state Sen. Don Thomas, a Republican from Atlanta.

Public safety advocates had long been trying to get rid of the exemption, but their efforts were stymied each time by rural lawmakers who called the rule and unnecessary regulation.