Governor's office of highway safety awards grant to fight DUI deaths

Impaired drivers cause a third of Georgia's traffic fatalities, however few drivers realize the number of dead on our highways far exceeds the number attributed each year to homicide. Today the Governor's Office of Highway Safety announced a series of grant programs totaling $4,959,000.00 to create a comprehensive crackdown on drunk and drugged driving deaths in Georgia.

Details of the GOHS grants were announced at the news conference for the Labor Day Operation Zero Tolerance enforcement campaign. The grant dollars will be used to support Georgia highway safety professionals as they target the state's deadly impaired driving problem from every perspective: Education, Enforcement, Prosecution, Adjudication and Rehabilitation.

The Governor's Office of Highway Safety grants will be awarded to expand Georgia's DUI Courts, revise the state's (ADAP) Alcohol and Drug Awareness Program curriculum, fund law enforcement H.E.A.T. and DUI task force units, and purchase high tech drug evidence screening equipment for the GBI Crime Lab Forensic Sciences Toxicology Section.

GBI CRIME LAB GRANT: "We are pleased to present this $236,000 grant to our Crime Lab partners at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation," said GOHS Director Bob Dallas. "It is by sustaining this scientific partnership with the GBI that the lifesaving work done by Georgia's traffic enforcement officers- especially those trained as Drug Recognition Experts (DRE's) and in Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST)- will continue to result in successful prosecutions of the impaired drivers who all too often become killers on our roads."

Since its creation in 1952, the GBI Division of Forensic Sciences carries the distinction of being the second statewide Crime Laboratory established in the U.S. The GBI Crime Lab Toxicology Section processes more than ten thousand suspected DUI cases every year. Results of their scientific tests on evidence involving

motorists suspected of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol play a crucial role in determining if charges will be brought against motorists suspected of driving while impaired.

DUI COURTS GRANT: Another $300,000 Highway Safety grant is earmarked to fund Georgia's new DUI-Courts project as an effort to reduce impaired driving, as a more effective means of reducing DUI recidivism, and to establish separate and distinct DUI Courts in locations selected where early indications of new trends in impaired driving problems are detected. The DUI Court participant offenders typically have multiple DUI's with high blood alcohol levels.

"The criminal justice community has long recognized the recurring phenomenon of multiple DUI offenders driving on suspended license convictions," said GOHS Director Dallas. "And anecdotally, law enforcement officers indicate an alarming increase in offenders who attempt to elude and engage in high-speed chases while driving on a suspended or revoked driver's license."

"We're expanding the DUI Court project from our three original demonstration courts and adding six additional locations around the state to address the increasing demands upon the court's time for judicial oversight and intensive supervision," said Director Dallas. Jurisdictions that wish to develop proposals for new DUI Courts will be evaluated on their current DUI data, willingness to follow the GOHS DUI Court Model, and ability to partner in cost to develop the DUI Court.

ADAP GRANT: A third element of the GOHS comprehensive DUI crackdown is the $223,000 grant to revamp Georgia's Alcohol and Drug Awareness Program, known as ADAP. All Georgia teenagers under the age of 18 must complete and pass ADAP in order to receive their Class D driver's license learner's permit. Whether in public or private schools, this course is taught in four one-hour sessions and students are required to pass a written exam.

"Although the ADAP program is required attendance for every ninth grade student who expects to receive a Georgia Driver's License, the ADAP curriculum is long overdue for content update and overhaul," said Director Dallas. The GOHS grant will fund a program consultant, updated instructor guide, and new student materials for this essential teen driver drug education element.

H.E.A.T. GRANT: Impaired driving related crashes killed 545 persons in Georgia in 2005. The chance of a crash being fatal here was almost six times higher for crashes related to alcohol or drugs than crashes not related to driver impairment. That's why the largest of the GOHS DUI grants funds the operation of a statewide Task force for the purpose of deterring the large number of persons who speed and drink and drive.

The 2005/2006 GOHS H.E.A.T. grants total $3.5-million and fund 19 specialized traffic enforcement units in strategic high-risk locations across the state. For the 2006/2007 grant cycle, GOHS anticipates increasing the awards to $4.2 million.

H.E.A.T. stands for Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Driving. The mission of the participating GOHS H.E.A.T. Units is to reduce the motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and fatalities through the systematic delivery of effective speed, DUI and aggressive driving countermeasures. The H.E.A.T. project aims to increase the impaired

driver apprehension rate, provide a heightened community presence, educate the public on DUI laws and reduce speeders.

Why the additional focus on speed? GOHS Director Dallas says it's because safety experts at the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration estimate that nationally, 31% of all fatal crashes involve drivers who were exceeding the speed limits or driving too fast for conditions. "In Georgia, more than one out of five crash deaths involve unsafe or illegal speed," said Dallas. "The majority of the drivers in speed-related crashes are male and the chance of a crash being fatal is over three times higher in crashes related to speed."

In 2005, Georgia had 1,742 fatalities related to motor vehicle crashes. Impaired driving is no accident. And DUI is no victimless crime. Across the country impaired drivers kill another victim every thirty minutes. But there are more than 47,000 law enforcement officers covering all 159 counties in Georgia and GOHS is working overtime with them this Labor Day to raise public awareness for the Operation Zero Tolerance impaired driving enforcement campaign.

"This year OZT-duty runs from Friday, August 18 through Monday, September 4th," said Dallas. "The public will begin hearing a new get-tough slogan for our law enforcement partners: "DRUNK DRIVING. OVER THE LIMIT. UNDER ARREST." Drunk drivers need to remember, with so many lives at stake, Georgia's ready to fight impaired driving with more than slogans."