By Alicia Eakin - bio | email
August 28, 2008
VALDOSTA, GA (WALB) - State agencies have reached out to their counterparts across state lines to keep the roads safe this holiday weekend.
Its called Hands Across the Border and law enforcement officers will be on the roads watching for speeders, seat belt violators and drunk drivers.
The Labor day weekend is one of the deadliest holidays of the year.
"I expect we will have DUI crashed that result in fatalities and that's unfortunate," says Randall Smith of the Florida Department of Transportation.
"It's always a party time and a time for people to get out and enjoy family and friends and sometimes they don't do the right thing like designate a driver," adds Ricky Rich of the Georgia Office of Highway Safety.
Law Enforcers say they see a sharp rise in alcohol-impaired driving and thus a rise in DUI related fatalities.
"We have about 1700 fatalities in the state of Georgia. One third of those are impaired driving related," Rich says.
To combat drunk driving, public safety officers from Florida and Georgia have reached out to each other and teamed up to get drunk drivers off the road and behind bars.
"No matter what state your in or what lines you cross, law enforcers are out in full force to make sure we have impaired drivers off our roadways," Rich says
They say staying safe is easy.
"Designate a driver, make other arrangements, give your keys to a friend. Just be safe on the highways," Smith says.
But ignoring the laws could be fatal.
The Georgia State Patrol estimates nearly two thousand crashes will occur between Friday and Monday, resulting in over 900 injuries and 16 deaths.
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