AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – It’s the last holiday weekend of the summer, and officers want to keep people safe.
State and local law enforcement agencies coming together with a goal of getting impaired drivers off the roads.
Hands Across the Border is a traffic enforcement campaign aimed at reducing the number of drunk or impaired drivers ahead of the Labor Day weekend.
In Georgia, it’s against the law to operate a motor vehicle with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) level of .08 or higher.
“I’ve seen numerous accidents involving speed, DUI impairment, people not wearing their seatbelts so we’re really trying to enforce highway safety, that’s out biggest thing joining up with South Carolina and really trying to show the efforts and importance of highway safety to help make the community safer,” said Cpl. Trevor Gordon with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
Agencies in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee are conducting sobriety road checks ahead of the Labor Day weekend.
Officials such as Cpl. David Jones, South Carolina Highway Patrol PIO, hope it sends the message that there is no tolerance for drugged and drunk driving.
“I can promise you we’re going to be out in full force, if you drive impaired, we’re going to be ready to lock you up, if you drive distracted or if you forget to put that seatbelt on we’re going to be there to stop you and remind you the importance of putting your phone down or buckling up,” said Jones.
Jones says initiatives like these show the public that officers have their backs and protect our roadways.
Officials say Georgia is currently at 800 fatalities which is down 17% from last year.
Powel Harrelson, Law Enforcement Coordinator for Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, says the message is clear: buckle up, don’t drive distracted or impaired, slow down and remember one thing.
“What it feels like to knock on someone’s door to tell a loved one that they’ve lost someone in a crash, I’ve unfortunately had to do that one too many times. So, what I want you to do is before you get in that car I want you to think about that, I want you to think about having to walk up to someone’s door and say you’ve had a loved one die in a crash because of a drunk driver or because somebody was speeding or because they were distracted in the car,” said Harrelson.
You can learn more about Hands Across the Border here.
