On February 24th, Governor Sonny Perdue welcomed four-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion driver Ron Hornaday to announce the kick-off of the Atlanta Motor Speedway’s 50 th Anniversary racing season! The Kobalt Tools 500 NASCAR weekend, featuring the “Atlanta 200” Truck Series Race and the “Kobalt Tools 500” Sprint Cup Race will run at AMS March 5-7.

 

To mark the AMS 50th anniversary, Governor Sonny Perdue presented champion driver Ron Hornaday with a bigger-than-life copy of Georgia’s colorful new NASCAR specialty license tags. Georgia now offers NASCAR-themed license tags for race fans to celebrate their favorite motor sport and support the stars of NASCAR. Proceeds from each official license tag will help save lives on Georgia roadways.

 

Governor Perdue proclaimed NASCAR’s Ron Hornaday as an honorary officer of Georgia’s H.E.A.T. Enforcement Team, as a reminder to all Georgia drivers to enjoy their speed in safety at the motorsports track. To help with this highway safety awareness effort, Governor Perdue was joined by Henry County Police H.E.A.T. Team Supervisor, Sgt. James Dixon, presented champion driver Ron Hornaday with a H.E.A.T. Unit shirt and Team cap.

 

Immediately after Capitol visit, driver Ron Hornaday rode shotgun with Sgt. Dixon in the H.E.A.T. patrolcarenroute to a Henry County roadcheck. As the Governor’s newly recruited honorary H.E.A.T. Team Officer for the day, NASCAR’s Ron Hornaday presented free AMS race tickets to the first thirty families who were securely buckled-up in seatbelts and child safety seats. Ron never leaves the pits unbuckled. On Wednesday, while the cops were busy writing tickets, Ron Hornaday was busy giving tickets away.

Are you a race fan? Do you love to drive? Do you have a birthday coming up?

Here’s a reminder about a unique birthday gift idea that Georgia race fans can give themselves at tag renewal time this year. It’s the official Georgia NASCAR© license plate -- A great way to designate 2010 as your personal championship season.

 

Since 2006, drivers here have been showing their support for Georgia’s favorite motor sport with this colorful specialty license tag. What’s more, while drivers celebrate their NASCAR spirit,they’re alsodoing their part tosupport Georgia highway safety. Proceeds from each official NASCAR tag sold go to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to help save lives on Georgia roadways.

 

Georgia’s Department of Revenue now offers a full line of 25 different NASCAR-themed license tags for dedicated race fans. There are 24 personalized tags featuring some of your favorite stars of NASCAR.

But if you just want to show your support for the stockcar speedway experience, there’s a genuine Georgia NASCAR license tag for that too. Real race fans will want to gear up and accessorize their rides.

 

Getting your Georgia NASCAR tag takes a few simple steps:

• Just remember to choose your NASCAR specialty tag for purchase during your birthday month.
• Then register your vehicle at your county tag office during your regular annual registration period.
• Ask for your favorite NASCAR tag. Initial costs for your special new tag will include the $20 annual registration fee, plus ad valorem tax and a $25 manufacturing fee, when not prepaid.

 

Show your true colors for NASCAR and your favorite driver by purchasing your specialty car tag today! For more information about how to purchase a Georgia NASCAR plate when your renewal date comes, visit http://motor.etax.dor.ga.gov/motor/plates/platesamples.aspx . To find your nearest county Tag office, visit http://motor.etax.dor.ga.gov/tagoffices/selecttagoffice.aspx .

 

*See the samples of Georgia’s officially licensed NASCAR specialty license tags at http://motor.etax.dor.ga.gov/motor/plates/nascar.asp . The checkered flag makes tag renewal fun!

It’s surprising how many drivers either don’t comprehend.. or just don’t care that speeding is risky business behind the wheel. It’s no surprise then that speed-related crashes killed 309 Georgians in 2008. Our crash stats show another 7,187 Georgians were injured in speed-related crashes that same year -- Many of them so seriously their lives would never be the same.

Throughout our communities every year, traffic enforcement officers are faced with the challenge of “how to get that message through?” to Georgia drivers who are convinced those fatality and injury stats “just can’t happen” to them, before they become part of the next batch of statistics on Georgia’s roadways.

 

It was the ongoing search for solutions to this statewide highway mayhem that lead the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) to the creation of a multi-jurisdictional traffic enforcement unit strategy. GOHS called their new programH.E.A.T.

 

H.E.A.T. stands for “Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic.” This year GOHS is providing H.E.A.T. grants totaling over $3-million to fund traffic enforcement equipment and officers for 21 of these specialized units in high-risk locations around the state.

 

H.E.A.T. Unit officers have required training in radar, emergency vehicle operation, pursuit intervention, advanced traffic law, and DUI Breathalyzer equipment operation. Many are certified as field sobriety or drug recognition experts. Their strategic program is designed to crack down on the dangerous, aggressive, high-speed drivers who place hundreds of innocent lives in peril on Georgia highways every day.

 

“The mission of the participating GOHS H.E.A.T. Units is to reduce the motor vehicle crashes, fatalities, and injuries through the systematic delivery of effective speed, aggressive driving, and DUI countermeasures,” said Director Bob Dallas of Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

Some H.E.A.T. Units are large enough to be deployed as single, self-contained enforcement teams to conduct sobriety checkpoints and high visibility concentrated patrols targeting speeders and impaired drivers.

 

Why this focus on speed? Because safety experts at the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration estimate that 31% of all fatal crashes involve drivers who were exceeding the speed limits or driving too fast for conditions. National research shows Georgia has the highest illegal speeds in the Southeast. On average, there was a speeding death a day in Georgia in 2007.

 

“Excessive speed is now considered a contributing factor in one-third of all fatal crashes here,” said GOHS Director Bob Dallas. “The majority of drivers in speed-related crashes are male and the chance of a crash being fatal is over three times higher in crashes related to speed.”

 

So the primary goals of the H.E.A.T project are to: (1) reduce impaired driving crashes; (2) reduce excessive speeding; (3) increase the safety belt usage rate; and (4) educate the public about traffic safety.

 

The 2009/2010 GOHS H.E.A.T. grants were awarded to police departments in the cities of Atlanta, Dublin, Duluth, Sandy Springs, and Valdosta -- And county police departments in Clayton, DeKalb, Dougherty, Glynn, Henry, and Winder Police jointly with the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office. H.E.A.T. grants were also awarded to Sheriff’s Offices in Bibb, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Forsyth, Paulding, and Walton Counties -- And the Georgia Department of Public Safety-GSP Nighthawks.

 

“This combined H.E.A.T. enforcement effort by police, sheriffs, and State Troopers is the kind of high visibility protection the public deserves on our highways,” said GOHS Director Dallas.

 

H.E.A.T. Units sponsored by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety develop and implement crash and fatality reduction initiatives within their jurisdictions in sixteen Regional Traffic Enforcement Networks across the state. They help enforce Georgia’s year-round speed, impaired driving, and safety belt campaigns like the 100 Days of Summer H.E.A.T., Operation Zero Tolerance, and Click It or Ticket.

 

Across the country impaired drivers kill a victim every thirty minutes. But GOHS highway safety programs like H.E.A.T. are working overtime along with more than 47,000 law enforcement officers statewide, covering all 159 counties in Georgia to raise public awareness, improve driver safety and save lives.

 

“The message to Georgia’s high-risk drivers is clear,” said GOHS Director Dallas. “The H.E.A.T. enforcement campaign is designed to make high-risk drivers feel the H.E.A.T. on their checkbooks, license points and insurance rates. H.E.A.T. means citations for speeding and aggressive driving.. it means tickets for failing to buckle-up kids and safety belts.. And it means jail time for drunk and drugged driving.”

 

“The presence of H.E.A.T. Units significantly increases public awareness and consistently act as a deterrent to many would-be super speeders and impaired drivers,” said Director Dallas. ”We know from experience that H.E.A.T. Teams like the Henry County Police Department are an effective way to maximize our deterrent efforts.” For more information about the GOHS H.E.A.T. initiative contact Lt. Scarlett Woods, H.E.A.T. Coordinator, at (404) 656-6996 or swoods@gohs.ga.gov -- Or visit us on the web at www.gahighwaysafety.org .