“THUNDER TASKFORCE” RETURNS TO COASTAL GEORGIA
WAVE 2 TARGETS HIGH-CRASH CORRIDOR IN GLYNN-MCINTOSH
Today the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) announced the Second Wave of the high-visibility ROLLING THUNDER TASKFORCE totarget high-risk drivers in Glynn and McIntosh counties this fall. Police generated 444 traffic citations in the two counties and arrested twenty drunk drivers during just the first two days of the campaign.
“And those DUI’s went straight to jail,” said GOHS Law Enforcement Coordinator Powell Harrelson. Harrelson coordinates the ROLLING THUNDER initiative. “In Georgia we call it Zero Tolerance. ‘Over TheLimit. Under Arrest.’ If not for these Rolling Thunder road checks, those violators might still be out on our Coastal Georgia roads endangering the lives of other Glynn and McIntosh County drivers who wouldn’t suspect a thing until it’s too late.”
“As a law enforcement officer there’s nothing worse than responding to a fatal crash site where evidence shows that traffic death was preventable and yet too often we see just that,” said Darien Police Staff Sgt. Andrew Altman. “So we’re thankful for these additional law enforcement resources the Thunder Taskforce brings to our communities,” he said.
The THUNDER TASKFORCE is a specialized traffic enforcement unit specifically designed to help areas like Glynn and McIntosh combat abnormally high rates of fatality crashes due to impaired drivers, illegal speeders, and safety belt violators. Statistically, stretches of heavily traveled state highways and rural roads in Glynn and McIntosh Counties currently meet the THUNDER TASKFORCE definition for ‘high crash corridors’. That’s what prompted Coastal Georgia law enforcement authorities to ask the Governor's Office of Highway Safety to plan this three-month TASKFORCE initiative.
“We’ve had way too many fatal crashes and something had to be done about the high risk drivers on our highways,” said Staff Sgt. Altman. “This is what it means to have a lifesaving law enforcement partnership. The next ninety days can help us save a lot of lives,” Altman said.
Preliminary crash data suggests that at present rates, McIntosh County will experience higher fatality counts during 2009 than during the last nine years. “But we’re already beginning to see better compliance with traffic laws after only the first enforcement wave of Thunder,” said Deputy Robert Francisco of the McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office. “With this high visibility enforcement we’re starting to see a positive change in driver behavior -- Fewer drivers speeding and more drivers buckling up their safetybelts. It’s just good to know we’re doing everything we can to encourage safe driving here.”
GOHS crash data also shows neighboring Glynn County ranks twelfth among all Georgia counties for the highest number of fatality crashes in 2008, coming in even above some Metro Atlanta Area counties.
Road checks conducted during Wave One of THUNDER generated 87 seatbelt tickets and police cited 59 parents for failing to safely secure their children in child safety seats. “When you think about it, that’s some pretty scary stuff for parents to do, driving around with a car full of kids with no car seats to protect them against a crash or even just a sudden stop,” said GOHS Law Enforcement Coordinator Powell Harrelson, who oversees the ROLLING THUNDER initiative. “Kids need to be in age and size appropriate safety seats to survive a crash,” said Harrelson.
TASKFORCE officers conduct day-and-night safety belt and sobriety road checks on local roadways on an ever-changing schedule while collecting enforcement data to document their life-saving progress. After encountering so many safety belt and child safety seat violations during the first enforcement wave, officers are now warning local motorists to expect sobriety road checks at night preceded by active safety belt checkpoints during daylight hours.
“There’s no question that seat belts save lives,” said Staff Sgt. Altman. “We’ll definitely be on the lookout for seat belt violators during this second wave of Thunder. All it takes is a click of a safety belt to save a life. We’re going to make sure every motorist that leaves our road checks drives away properly restrained for a safe trip.”
The THUNDER strategy deploys road checks and concentrated patrols on state routes, rural roads, and interstate highways throughout the three month period. The THUNDER TASKFORCE goal will be to show a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and injuries during that ninety day period. During its inaugural mobilization last year, OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER successfully reduced traffic fatalities in the nearby Savannah Area by 58-percent while working with Savannah-Chatham Metro Police.
During the fall of ‘09 the travel forecast for Coastal Georgia calls for THUNDER!
Coastal Georgia THUNDER Wave One Complete:
WAVE 2 TARGETS HIGH-CRASH CORRIDOR IN GLYNN-MCINTOSH
Today the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) announced the Second Wave of the high-visibility ROLLING THUNDER TASKFORCE totarget high-risk drivers in Glynn and McIntosh counties this fall. Police generated 444 traffic citations in the two counties and arrested twenty drunk drivers during just the first two days of the campaign.
“And those DUI’s went straight to jail,” said GOHS Law Enforcement Coordinator Powell Harrelson. Harrelson coordinates the ROLLING THUNDER initiative. “In Georgia we call it Zero Tolerance. ‘Over TheLimit. Under Arrest.’ If not for these Rolling Thunder road checks, those violators might still be out on our Coastal Georgia roads endangering the lives of other Glynn and McIntosh County drivers who wouldn’t suspect a thing until it’s too late.”
“As a law enforcement officer there’s nothing worse than responding to a fatal crash site where evidence shows that traffic death was preventable and yet too often we see just that,” said Darien Police Staff Sgt. Andrew Altman. “So we’re thankful for these additional law enforcement resources the Thunder Taskforce brings to our communities,” he said.
The THUNDER TASKFORCE is a specialized traffic enforcement unit specifically designed to help areas like Glynn and McIntosh combat abnormally high rates of fatality crashes due to impaired drivers, illegal speeders, and safety belt violators. Statistically, stretches of heavily traveled state highways and rural roads in Glynn and McIntosh Counties currently meet the THUNDER TASKFORCE definition for ‘high crash corridors’. That’s what prompted Coastal Georgia law enforcement authorities to ask the Governor's Office of Highway Safety to plan this three-month TASKFORCE initiative.
“We’ve had way too many fatal crashes and something had to be done about the high risk drivers on our highways,” said Staff Sgt. Altman. “This is what it means to have a lifesaving law enforcement partnership. The next ninety days can help us save a lot of lives,” Altman said.
Preliminary crash data suggests that at present rates, McIntosh County will experience higher fatality counts during 2009 than during the last nine years. “But we’re already beginning to see better compliance with traffic laws after only the first enforcement wave of Thunder,” said Deputy Robert Francisco of the McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office. “With this high visibility enforcement we’re starting to see a positive change in driver behavior -- Fewer drivers speeding and more drivers buckling up their safetybelts. It’s just good to know we’re doing everything we can to encourage safe driving here.”
GOHS crash data also shows neighboring Glynn County ranks twelfth among all Georgia counties for the highest number of fatality crashes in 2008, coming in even above some Metro Atlanta Area counties.
Road checks conducted during Wave One of THUNDER generated 87 seatbelt tickets and police cited 59 parents for failing to safely secure their children in child safety seats. “When you think about it, that’s some pretty scary stuff for parents to do, driving around with a car full of kids with no car seats to protect them against a crash or even just a sudden stop,” said GOHS Law Enforcement Coordinator Powell Harrelson, who oversees the ROLLING THUNDER initiative. “Kids need to be in age and size appropriate safety seats to survive a crash,” said Harrelson.
TASKFORCE officers conduct day-and-night safety belt and sobriety road checks on local roadways on an ever-changing schedule while collecting enforcement data to document their life-saving progress. After encountering so many safety belt and child safety seat violations during the first enforcement wave, officers are now warning local motorists to expect sobriety road checks at night preceded by active safety belt checkpoints during daylight hours.
“There’s no question that seat belts save lives,” said Staff Sgt. Altman. “We’ll definitely be on the lookout for seat belt violators during this second wave of Thunder. All it takes is a click of a safety belt to save a life. We’re going to make sure every motorist that leaves our road checks drives away properly restrained for a safe trip.”
The THUNDER strategy deploys road checks and concentrated patrols on state routes, rural roads, and interstate highways throughout the three month period. The THUNDER TASKFORCE goal will be to show a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and injuries during that ninety day period. During its inaugural mobilization last year, OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER successfully reduced traffic fatalities in the nearby Savannah Area by 58-percent while working with Savannah-Chatham Metro Police.
During the fall of ‘09 the travel forecast for Coastal Georgia calls for THUNDER!
Six Fugitives & Twenty DUI’s Caught in 2 Days
“THUNDER is just getting started..”
The stats are in: On August 7th and 8th, OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER once again lived up to its zero tolerance reputation for rounding-up high-risk drivers. During the first THUNDER enforcement wave TASKFORCE officers wrote 444 citations and swept-up 20 drivers on DUI charges as this mobilization rumbled through Glynn and McIntosh counties on Friday and Saturday night.
“That means twenty impaired motorists jailed before their dangerous drunk driving could claim innocent lives and twenty Glynn and McIntosh County families that didn’t get that terrifying knock at the door in the middle of the night with news of a highway tragedy,” said Governor's Office of Highway Safety Director Bob Dallas.
TASKFORCE Officers made more than four hundred seventy enforcement contacts with motorists during this first Coastal Georgia THUNDER enforcement wave. While on the look-out for DUI’s, roadchecks here helped round-up another 24 violators on suspended licenses and 11 more motorists driving uninsured.
“And THUNDER is just getting started,” said GOHS Law Enforcement Coordinator Powell Harrelson, Coordinator of the GOHS ROLLING THUNDER initiative. “These are exactly the kinds of dangerous drivers THUNDER was designed to find-- Motorists whose illegal conduct behind the wheel or high-risk driving habits put everyone’s families at risk every day on the highway.”
In the crime-fighting column, THUNDER TASKFORCE officers at 17 roadchecks also made 12 drug arrests and 9 felony arrests while apprehending 6 fugitives during this first two-day wave.
“Just the high visibility of TASKFORCE officers patrolling these high crash corridors should make high-speed and high-risk offenders aware that we’re not going to tolerate unsafe driving in Glynn and McIntosh Counties this fall,” said Rolling THUNDER Coordinator Powell Harrelson. THUNDER enforcement officers cited 75 drivers for exceeding legal speed limits, stopped 87 drivers for safetybelt violations, and ticketed 59 parents and caregivers for failure to use proper child restraints.. All in an effort to change local illegal driving behaviors and save lives in Coastal Georgia.
These neighboring counties are connected by more than a web of rural roads and Interstate 95. They share higher than average highway fatality rates for counties their size. “So we’re out to catch the worst violators,” says GOHS Director Bob Dallas. “Drunk drivers won’t know when and they won’t know where to look for blue lights in their rear view mirrors. But the TASKFORCE will be out there working unpredictable schedules and enforcement patterns as these ongoing concentrated patrols and roadchecks continue for the next ninety days.”
When this TASKFORCE is gone local law enforcement will get a proven playbook of enforcement strategies they can continue to use to sustain their lifesaving highway safety goals. “THUNDER is about raising survival rates, not revenue. We want to leave local residents with a legacy of safe driving habits,” said Director Dallas. The 90-day travel forecast in the Glynn and McIntosh County corridor calls for continuing THUNDER.
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