DRUNK DRIVING: OVER THE LIMIT? UNDER ARREST!
LABOR DAY ENFORCEMENT CRACKDOWN IN GEORGIA

Impaired driving is no accident. While the news media is often tempted to focus on the nation’s violent homicide rate, the violent deaths and dismemberment resulting from vehicular homicides caused by drunk and drugged driving remain some of the most frequently committed crimes in the U-S.

And DUI is no victimless crime. Across the country impaired drivers kill another victim every thirty minutes. Last year in Georgia alone, fifteen people were killed and 602 more were injured just during the summer Labor Day holiday. On average, half these holiday highway deaths are alcohol- related.

“Way too many Georgians still don’t understand that a mix of alcohol, drugs, and driving pose a deadly threat to life behind the wheel or in the passenger seat,” said Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) Director Bob Dallas. “Nationally, nearly half of all traffic deaths during these summer holidays are alcohol-related and here in Georgia impaired drivers cause a third of the state’s total traffic fatalities every year.”

So GOHS is working overtime with highway safety advocates again this Labor Day to raise public awareness for the Operation Zero Tolerance impaired driving enforcement campaign. And this year that means the public will begin hearing a new get-tough slogan for our law enforcement partners: “DRUNK DRIVING. OVER THE LIMIT. UNDER ARREST.”

“The new OZT drunk driving message is simple,“ said GOHS Director Bob Dallas. “You drive impaired in Georgia, you WILL go to jail. That’s Zero-Tolerance.” Operation Zero Tolerance enforcement officers will blanket Georgia’s roadways with high visibility sobriety checkpoints and concentrated OZT-patrols when impaired driving and traffic volumes are historically the highest on our roadways. Look for them where you drive.

More than 500 law enforcement agencies will mobilize traffic enforcement officers throughout the state for OZT-duty from Friday, August 18 through Monday, September 4, 2006. And a statewide OZT TV and radio ad campaign will accompany enforcement efforts to help raise public awareness that if you’re “OVER THE LIMIT” you’re “UNDER ARREST.”

Labor Day OZT is part of the GOHS One Hundred Days of Summer H.E.A.T. mobilization that runs through the end of the Summer holidays cracking down on the deadly consequences of speeders, drunk and aggressive drivers, and safety belt violators. Director Dallas reminds responsible drivers that the best protection against an encounter with a drunk driver is still a buckled safety belt for every seat and every trip.

“If you plan to drink, don’t drive,” said Director Dallas. “And if you plan to party, choose a designated driver before the Labor Day celebrations begin!”

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THE GOHS-GBI CRIME LAB PARTNERSHIP

Obtaining accurate and certifiable DUI drug analysis results for use in the courts is time consuming and labor intensive. The Governor's Office of Highway Safety presented the GBI Crime Lab with a $236,000.00 grant to purchase a LC/MS/MS testing instrument to analyze blood and urine evidence. This device can significantly reduce sample-prep time, improve test turn-around time, and more efficiently screen samples for a wider variety of drugs that impair driving. The instrument widens the scope of DUI toxicology case work for Georgia’s vehicular homicide cases and impaired driving prosecutions.

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$4.2 MILLION TO FIGHT GEORGIA’S IMPAIRED DRIVING DEATHS

Impaired drivers cause a third of Georgia’s traffic fatalities each year. GOHS will also announce $4.2-million-dollars in highway safety grants to expand Georgia’s DUI Courts, revise the Alcohol and Drug Awareness Program curriculum, and fund law enforcement H.E.A.T. units in a comprehensive statewide plan to fight impaired driving.

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Special Thanks Goes Out to our Press Conference Speakers and Hosts: GBI Director Vernon Keenan, GBI Crime Lab Deputy Director Dan Kirk, Department of Driver Services Commissioner Greg Dozier, MADD State Advisory Council Chair Rebecca Watson, MADD Speaker Tiffany Ballinger, NHTSA SE Administrator Belinda Jackson, DRE Bruce Stanford, and Judge Kent Lawrence of the Athens/Clarke County State Court

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