26th Annual “Hands Across the Border” Operation underway this week

MJ Kneiser

The 26th annual “Hands Across the Border”  traffic enforcement operation kicks off this week.

Georgia is joining their fellow law enforcement officers in Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee to conduct joint roadchecks in their respective states.

State and local law enforcement officers in all five states will work simultaneously to take drunken and drugged drivers off the roads as well issuing citations for speeding, distracted driving, unbuckled motorists and other traffic violations.

Harris Blackwood, Director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety said working together can hold down the number of accidents and fatalities.

“It is a really important year, we have had a high number of fatalities, not quite as high as last year, but what happens during this summer season determines our numbers for the rest of the year,” said Blackwood. “We believe that working together, we can hold down the number of fatalities and injuries across Georgia.”

Blackwood said this year, Georgia and its neighboring law enforcement partners believe they can expand their safety message by moving “Hands Across the Border” to the start of the summer travel season.

“Hands Across the Border” began Monday with roadchecks at the Georgia/Tennessee state line in Ringgold.

That was followed by stops at the Alabama state line in Columbus, the Florida state line in Valdosta and Kingsland, and the South Carolina state line in Savannah.

“It sends a message to the motoring public that we are working right now, there is an urgent effort to slow people down, to get drunk drivers off the road, to end texting and driving and other distractions and to make sure that everyone is wearing a seatbelt,” said Blackwood. “And our neighbors in other states are just as committed as we are here in Georgia.”

According to the Georgia Department of Public Safety, the number of traffic deaths in Georgia has increased in each of the last two years.

While the final crash statistics from 2016 will be released later this year by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, preliminary numbers from the Georgia Department of Transportation stand at 1,561 traffic deaths in the state last year.