Police department receives $252,800 to make Marietta's roads safer
The Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) has awarded the Marietta Police Department $252,800 to create and implement ways to reduce crashes, injuries and deaths on Marietta's highways and streets.
(Media-Newswire.com) - The Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety ( GOHS ) has awarded the Marietta Police Department $252,800 to create and implement ways to reduce crashes, injuries and deaths on Marietta's highways and streets. The grant is part of GOHS's Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic ( HEAT ) program.
"The HEAT project aims to increase the impaired driver apprehension rate," police chief Dan Flynn said. "HEAT units like ours help accomplish that goal by systematically delivering effective DUI and aggressive driving countermeasures and by providing a higher traffic enforcement profile in the community."
About the HEAT program Goal: reduce deaths and injuries resulting from drunk driving crashes and speeding drivers by increasing seat belt use, while educating public about traffic safety and dangers of DUI GOHS coordinates 16 regional traffic enforcement networks statewide to help enforce Georgia's year-round speed, drunk driving, and seat belt campaigns 2011 GOHS HEAT grants: $3.2-million, fund specialized traffic enforcement units in 19 strategic high-risk counties statewide Designed to help Georgia jurisdictions with highest rates of traffic crashes, injuries and deaths Grants awarded throughout state based on drunk driving and speeding data Some HEAT units large enough to be deployed as single, self-contained enforcement team to conduct sobriety checkpoints and concentrated patrols targeting drunk drivers and speeders HEAT units also organized as part of joint highway safety response team called Rolling Thunder, to help reduce high numbers of traffic deaths in other high-risk Georgia communities "Agencies like the Marietta Police Department that have received this HEAT grant are committed members of the GOHS Traffic Enforcement Network, dedicated to protecting our citizens from drunk drivers" Governor's Office of Highway Safety director Bob Dallas said. "And that's crucial because impaired driving-related crashes killed 331 people here in 2009, accounting for twenty-six percent of all fatal crashes in Georgia," he said. "Impaired driving is no accident, and DUI is no victimless crime."
"This combined enforcement effort by police, sheriffs and state troopers is the kind of high visibility protection the public deserves on our highways," Dallas said. "GOHS is working overtime with more than 47,000 law enforcement officers covering all 159 counties in Georgia and using initiatives like the HEAT program to improve driver awareness and save lives."
Marietta Police Department's HEAT team Law enforcement partners in Operation Zero Tolerance DUI initiatives and Click-It-Or-Ticket seatbelt campaign Will coordinate with GOHS during year-round waves of high visibility concentrated patrols, multi-jurisdictional road checks and sobriety checkpoints "Georgia's HEAT units and Operation Rolling Thunder consistently save lives on our highways," Dallas said. "We know from experience that HEAT teams like the Marietta Police Department's are an effective way to maximize our deterrent efforts with impaired drivers."
The Marietta Police Department is one of only 21 Georgia law enforcement agencies to receive the grant.
More info: Marietta Police Department, 770-794-5300, gahighwaysafety.org.
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