(STATEWIDE GEORGIA) Summer 2010 marks the seventh consecutive season that police are rolling out waves of enforcement patrols across 159 Georgia counties to crack down on dangerous, aggressive, and high-speed drivers. The 100 Days of Summer H.E.A.T. campaign is a multi-jurisdictional highway safety enforcement strategy designed to reduce high-fatality crash-counts during Georgia’s potentially deadly holiday driving period from Memorial Day through the Fourth of July and Labor Day. H.E.A.T. stands for “Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic.”
“Waves of law enforcement patrols including police, sheriff’s deputies, State Troopers and State Motor Carrier Compliance officers will help us focus attention on the high-speed motorists, the impaired motorists, and the texting motorists who make roadways dangerous for the safe drivers of Georgia,” said Director Bob Dallas of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). “After six previous summers of this high-visibility enforcement campaign in Georgia, the “100 Days of Summer H.E.AT” now joins the buckled safetybelt on the GOHS list of proven life-saving counter-measures.”
This year, H.E.A.T. enforcement begins Monday, May 17th as law enforcement agencies throughout the state once again deploy their full-scale, high-profile enforcement mobilization to round-up the most dangerous traffic offenders.
“GOHS will continue one of the longest, toughest, and most ambitious Summer H.E.A.T. highway safety initiatives ever launched in this state,” said GOHS Director Dallas. “H.E.A.T. means citations for speeding and aggressive driving.. H.E.A.T. means tickets for failing to buckle-up kids and seatbelts.. And jail time for drunk and drugged driving.”
Safety experts regard Speeding as a high-risk behavior behind the wheel, right along with texting and DUI. Why? Because speed kills. Despite advancements in vehicle safety and passenger protection, national crash data shows a continuous increase in the number of deaths and injuries attributed to speed since 1995. National research shows Georgia drivers among the highest illegal speeders in the country.
“Georgia highway safety data shows speed, impaired driving and unbuckled motorists are still the top three causes of fatality crashes, not just during the summer holidays, but throughout the year,” said Director Dallas. On average, there’s a speed-related death-a-day in Georgia. And this year, drivers who make a habit of ignoring posted speed limits will feel the H.E.A.T. of higher state fines on their checkbooks.
During the 100 Days of Summer H.E.A.T. police will be enforcing the state’s new Super Speeder Law that took effect January 2010 to help put the brakes on Georgia’s high-risk speeders. The Super Speeder Law tacks on additional two-hundred-dollar state-fines for drivers convicted of speeding at 75mph-or-more on any two-lane roads.. or speeding 85-and-over anywhere in Georgia. “These Super Speeder fines are designed to reform high-speed behavior behind the wheel and help us save precious lives and reduce serious injury on Georgia roadways,” said Director Dallas.
“It’s not just a slogan. Any way you look at it, ‘Speeding Will Cost You’ in Georgia,” said GOHS Director Dallas. ‘So the message to Georgia’s high-risk drivers is clear: Safety belt, DUI, and speed law violations will not be tolerated. It’s time to buckle-up, secure the kids in their safety seats, drive sober, and obey the speed limits during the 100 Days of Summer H.E.A.T. Because somewhere in Georgia there’s an officer waiting for Super Speeders with a ticket book.. and on the lookout for drunk drivers with a jail cell during Summer H.E.A.T.”
(Warning to Georgia Motorists: In May those H.E.A.T.-Teams will also focus enforcement on late-night safetybelt violators during Click It Or Ticket.) For more information on all these lifesaving GOHS initiatives, visit http://www.gahighwaysafety.org Day or Night.
