TO THE EDITOR:

The summer holidays are something to celebrate. But they have a deadly reputation on the road. Because too many summer party-people leave their designated drivers behind at the barbeque. And that means too many Georgians will die in alcoholrelated crashes during the Labor Day weekend. There's a traffic fatality every thirteen minutes on America's crash clock with no time off for holidays.

In 2007 more than 13,000 people died in highway crashes involving drivers with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher. The FBI projected 1.5 million nationwide DUI arrests that year. Across the country drunk driving persists as one of America's deadliest crimes.

Georgia's crash data calendar shows the summer travel period here is one of the most dangerous times on our highways. Last Labor Day 2,154 traffic crashes were reported just during the 78-hour travel period around the holiday. Twenty people died and another 577 Georgians were injured. In 2007 more than a thousand people were injured while traveling on Georgia highways during the same Labor Day holiday period.

To Georgia's highway safety professionals, the causes behind those Labor Day holiday fatalities sound all too familiar: Alcohol and drugs are usually identified as major contributing factors and about half the crash victims are unbuckled when they die. The sad fact is one-out-of-three of our fatal highway crashes in Georgia each year is caused by impaired drivers. And every one of those tragic alcohol-related deaths is completely preventable! How can we stop these needless fatal crashes? Labor Day 2009 marks the fourth consecutive summer that Georgia has mobilized thousands of traffic enforcement officers to conduct high visibility sobriety checkpoints and concentrated patrols throughout the state as part of a national DUI enforcement campaign.

In Georgia the mobilization is called Operation Zero Tolerance (OZT) because even first time violators go to jail. OZT means you never receive just a warning or citation. Impaired motorists caught driving at or over the 0.08 (BAC) limit are arrested. In Georgia, it's "Over The Limit. Under Arrest."

Georgia's statewide Operation Zero Tolerance holiday enforcement crackdown begins Friday, August 21 and runs through Monday, September 7, 2009. We even warn motorists what days to watch out for blue lights because in Georgia, it's not about writing more tickets.. it's about saving more lives. And we hope every driver will pay attention to our enforcement warning.

Whether meeting friends after work or traveling the holiday barbeque circuit, friends should never let friends drive drunk. Remember to designate a sober driver in advance - Before the Labor Day festivities begin. As we celebrate the last holiday of summer, let's remember that the best way to protect your family against an encounter with a drunk driver is to wear your seatbelt and make sure your passengers always do the same. So Buckle-up. Slow Down. Drive Sober. Labor Day weekend is every Georgian's last celebration of summer. Don't let it be your very last.

BOB DALLIS, DIRECTOR Georgia Governor's Office of

Highway Safety