States Warn Drunk Drivers: Over the Limit. Under Arrest

 More than five hundred Georgia police agencies are conducting DUI road checks and patrols to keep families safe on the road this holiday season. The state's Operation Zero Tolerance (OZT) enforcement mobilization runs Dec. 17 through Jan. 2. 

The Governor's Office of Highway Safety's (GOHS) is also launching a Thunder Task Force initiative targeting a county with some of the highest traffic fatality stats in the state. This is a three month program to reinforce local jurisdictions with increased state-coordinated traffic safety enforcement, focusing on DUI during the mobilization. GOHS Director Bob Dallas joins trauma surgeons and DUI victims to kick off the campaign with a news conference at a Savannah trauma center. Other news conferences are being held around the state to announce regional high visibility crackdown activities.

GOHS is supplementing its radio and TV paid media campaign with live radio announcements during traffic reports and University of Georgia football game broadcasts. UGA Coach Mark Richt begins every home game with a JumboTron stadium message: “Hang-Up...Buckle-Up...and Drive Sober so everyone has a safe trip home.” GOHS is also targeting drivers in high-risk, Hispanic, and minority communities with gas pump-topper ads at neighborhood convenience stores, and is using Facebook to reach millions of 18- to-34 year old high-risk drivers online.

/PRNewswire/ -- The Governors Highway Safety Association strongly supports the national "Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest." holiday drunk driving enforcement crackdown. According to GHSA Chairman Vernon F. Betkey, Jr., "State highway safety agencies are aggressively participating in this year's effort. State law enforcement partners will be making a very visible enforcement presence by increasing their drunk driving checkpoints and saturation patrols."

GHSA members are purchasing paid advertising and conducting a variety of awareness events to remind drivers that there's zero tolerance for those driving drunk this holiday season. Those citizens who may selfishly consider driving drunk should know that they will be pulled over and the consequences will be severe.

The holiday season is too often a deadly time on our roadways. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in December 2009, 753 people were killed in crashes that involved a drunk driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher – above the legal limit in every state and the District of Columbia.

To help move the nation toward zero roadway deaths, GHSA has been actively addressing the issue of impaired driving. Just last month, GHSA and NHTSA brought together a variety of state officials to discuss best practices in implementing alcohol ignition interlock programs. In 2011, GHSA will begin a three-year NHTSA-funded research effort to determine the most effective elements in a model interlock program. The Association strongly supports these devices and urges that they be required for all convicted drunk drivers. According to Chairman Betkey, "The technology exists to make it impossible for a person convicted of drunk driving to get behind the wheel of their vehicle unless they are sober. Every state should support these commonsense, lifesaving laws for all convicted offenders." Currently, 12 states have passed these laws.

State efforts will complement NHTSA's multimillion dollar "Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest." advertising campaign. The national holiday crackdown is organized by NHTSA and implemented by state highway safety agencies with the support of local law enforcement and other organizations. The crackdown runs through January 3.

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USA to Observe Drive Safer Sunday Nov. 29

/PRNewswire/ -- The fifth annual national observance of Drive Safer Sunday in America is set for Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009, when Road Safe America urges motorists across the USA again to focus on driving more safely to avoid becoming a statistic on the busiest highway traffic day of the year.

The annual observance, supported by state and congressional resolutions, thousands of motorists, truckers and the news media, was launched on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2005 by Atlanta-based Road Safe America.

The American Automobile Association is projecting a 1.4 percent increase in Thanksgiving travel this year, although fewer people are expected to travel by air due to budget concerns, reduced airline capacity and added charges. AAA estimates 38.4 million people will be traveling at least 50 miles next weekend. AAA projects 86 percent of travelers will drive.

"The death of almost 40,000 people a year in more than 6 million highway crashes in America is an unchecked epidemic in this country," said Stephen C. Owings of Atlanta, co-founder of Road Safe America along with his wife, Susan.

The Owings founded Road Safe America after their son, Cullum, was killed on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2002 when his car - stopped in an interstate traffic jam - was crushed from behind by a speeding tractor trailer truck on cruise control going 7 mph over the posted speed limit.

Statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation show almost 1,000 truckers and about 4,000 auto drivers and passengers are killed in wrecks involving heavy commercial vehicles every year.

Road Safe America urges all of the motorists who will be traveling back home, or to school, that day to remember how dangerous a day it is and to be particularly careful. Stay alert, buckle up, drive slowly as well as defensively, and give heavy commercial vehicles plenty of room since they can't see, maneuver or stop as well as smaller vehicles. We also encourage all drivers to stay off of their communications devices, which are so dangerously distracting.

During this year's observance of Drive Safer Sunday, Road Safe America will honor Robert F. Dallas, Director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety in Georgia. Bob's support of the Road Safe America cause and especially Drive Safer Sunday has been broad and effective since the very beginning of the organization's efforts.

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State Troopers and DPS Officers Have Begun Holiday Seat Belt Enforcement Effort

Georgia State Troopers and officers with the Georgia Department of Public Safety Motor Carrier Compliance Division and Capitol Police Services Unit joined their law enforcement counterparts across the United States on Monday, November 16, for Operation Click It or Ticket. The two-week, high-visibility seat belt enforcement effort will target motorists who are not wearing their seat belts or properly restraining children.

Colonel Bill Hitchens, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety, said seat belt enforcement has proven to save lives. "Through enforcement and education, more people are using seat belts than ever before and that has translated to more lives saved when traffic crashes occur," he said. "But, far too many people are still not buckling up or taking the time to properly restrain children."

Last year during the 102-hour Thanksgiving holiday travel period, the Georgia State Patrol investigated 10 fatal crashes between 6 p.m. Wednesday and midnight the following Sunday. "Of the 10 fatal crashes troopers investigated, six of the people killed were not wearing seat belts; one crash victim was a motorcyclist; and use could not be determined in one crash," the Commissioner noted.

Nationally, nighttime is the worst for seat belt use, according to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Of the 231 traffic deaths in crashes occurring at night during the Thanksgiving holiday period in 2008, 67 percent were not wearing seat belts.

Colonel Hitchens said troopers will be keeping a close watch for seat belt violations during patrols over the next two weeks and MCCD officers will be watching for seat belt violations by drivers of commercial motor vehicles as well. "Federal regulations require safety belt use at all times in a commercial motor vehicle," he said.

"Wearing a seat belt costs you nothing, and may save your life or protect you from a serious, possibly life-altering injury," Colonel Hitchens said. "Not wearing a seat belt, especially during this Thanksgiving period, will definitely cost you a ticket at the very least."

Regular seat belt use is the single most effective way to protect people and reduce fatalities in motor vehicle crashes, according to NHTSA. Research has shown that when lap and shoulder belts are used properly, the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants is reduced by 45 percent, and the risk of moderate to serious injury is reduced by 50 percent.

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