ATLANTA — The Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety has announced that state and local law enforcement officers in Georgia are teaming up with Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee to take impaired drivers and other violators off their roads at sobriety checkpoints in all six states leading up to the Labor Day holiday weekend.
The first “Hands Across the Border” was held in 1991, as Georgia and Florida wanted to see which state could most lower the number of drunk driving traffic deaths. In less than a decade, it was expanded to include all five states that border Georgia. State and local law enforcement officers will be looking not only for impaired drivers but also distracted drivers, those without licenses, seat belt violations and other infractions during multiple road checks around the state.
There were 3,958 collisions that resulted in 23 fatalities and 901 injuries in Georgia during the 78-hour Labor Day holiday weekend in 2015. That is an increase from 15 deaths during the same holiday period in 2014. There were 144 alcohol-related crashes in 2015 that resulted in 61 injuries and three fatalities from Friday, Sept. 4 through Monday, Sept. 7. Research has shown alcohol-related crashes have been reduced by 20 percent due to well publicized enforcement checkpoints.