August 22, 2007
Albany - - An alarming statistic about a danger on Georgia roads. Fewer people are dying in drunk driving crashes nationwide, but that's not the case here. The number of DUI deaths in Georgia went up seven percent last year.
When we take to the road, some tend to forget we share it with others.
"I've had two uncles killed by drunk drivers," says Sybil Collins, who knows all too well.
"He was killed on I 75 and knocked 85 feet down the road and he was picked up in pieces."
After that, her son was actually arrested for driving under the influence. So she founded the former Mothers Against Drunk Driving Chapter in Albany to take action.
"I couldn't believe what was happening out there on the roads I couldn't believe people were that irresponsible."
So irresponsible that more than 13,000 people died nationwide last year as a result of drunk drivers. In Georgia, 464 people died, up 31 from 2005.
"You'd be surprised at the individuals we stop a lot of times they've been consuming alcohol and we'll make an arrest and find out someone in the vehicle hadn't been consumed any alcohol and shouldn't have been driving in the first place," says Lt. Tom Jackson with Dougherty County Police.
Jackson says cops constantly look for impaired drivers and perform sobriety tests for suspected DUI drivers.
Cops are specially trained to perform these tests and recognize if you're over the limit. If so, you'll be arrested on the spot.
"It's a night in jail mandatory," he says.
If convicted your license can be suspended up to a year.
Collins says any DUI death is one too many.
"That's not a number. That's a Garret, that's a Christie, that's a Beth, that's a Kevin and there's a family behind each one of those names."
One of those families was her own.
In Georgia, a person whose blood alcohol content level reaches .08 is considered to be over the limit.
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