| PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY FROM THE DECEMBER 8TH, 2004 SPEED PRESS CONFERENCE IN FORSYTH, GEORGIA This December, the travel report for Georgia's holiday season will include continuing "HEAT" for anyone who recklessly climbs behind the wheel with high-risk driving habits. H.E.A.T. is a statewide driver safety campaign that means "Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic". Truly dangerous drivers will face a truly effective countermeasure campaign called "December HEAT". |
| The Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) knows responsible motorists will be sharing Georgia's highways with the lead-foots, illegal-lane-changers, red-light-runners and impaired drivers as they motor to their holiday destinations. So waves of law enforcement patrols will be cracking down on speeders in both commercial and passenger vehicles. |
| Unique to this campaign is the high level of coordination between GOHS, DMVS, Georgia law enforcement, and professional truck drivers' associations for commercial truck inspections and stops. From state-line to state-line, truckers will know the importance Georgia places on highway safety. |
| To the bad drivers who are pulled over during concentrated patrols or stopped at statewide road checks, HEAT will mean more than a roadside delay. Bad drivers will feel the HEAT on their checkbooks, license points, and insurance rates when they receive citations for speeding and aggressive driving. Tickets will be given for failing to buckle-up the kids or wear safety belts and there will be jail time for drunk and drugged driving. |
| Why put all that HEAT on bad drivers? Because data from the Department of Motor Vehicle Safety (DMVS) shows motor vehicle crash fatalities in Georgia actually outnumber the murder rate by nearly three-to-one. That means over fifteen thousand people lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes in just the past ten years. Unsafe or Illegal Speed continues to rank in the top two factors contributing to fatal crashes in Georgia. |
| Governor's Office of Highway Safety Director Bob Dallas says, "On average about 30 people die in motor vehicle crashes every week in Georgia. We all know car crashes are NOT a natural cause of death. The crashes that kill, maim, and injure thousands of Georgians each year ARE preventable and that's the goal of December HEAT." |
| And just when the December HEAT initiative wraps up, DMVS and the Georgia State Patrol will coordinate with local law enforcement agencies to conduct the statewide "Operation Zero Tolerance" (OZT) campaign from December 17th through January 2nd. Operation Zero Tolerance will target the impaired and dangerous drivers who place hundreds of innocent lives in peril on our highways here every year. |
