110 Days of summer HEAT Begins

Slow down. Buckle up. Hang up. Sober up.

This is the message the Governor's Office of Highway Safety is sending with its 100 Days of Summer HEAT, which kicked off Monday, May 23, and those who don't get the message will get a cool down from law enforcement.

The initiative is a multi-jurisdictional highway safety enforcement strategy designed to reduce high-fatality crash counts during Georgia’s potentially deadly holiday driving period from Memorial Day through the Fourth of July and Labor Day.

“Police officers, deputies and state troopers in all corners of the state will be setting their sights on dangerous speeders, impaired drivers and motorists who still insist on texting while driving,"Harris Blackwood, director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, said in a news release. "These are the people making Georgia’s roadways dangerous for everyone."

Over the next 100 days, Georgia law enforcement officers will have zero tolerance for excessive speeding, impaired driving and occupant protection violations.

Even though impaired driving and occupant protection violations will be targeted, a primary focus of this campaign is speed. The initiative is aimed at reducing the high number of fatality crashes on Georgia's highway systems and will target aggressive drivers, ticketing speeders, and sending impaired drivers to jail.

All summer long, aggressive drivers will be stopped at road checks or pulled over by concentrated patrols on interstates, secondary corridors and local highways.

During 100 Days of Summer HEAT officers will be also enforcing the state’s  that Governor Nathan Deal recently signed into law. The new law requires children to be restrained in a child passenger safety restraint device until they are 8 years old.

“While some exemptions do exist, this law exists to protect our precious cargo at a time when far too many 6- to 8-year-olds are visiting the emergency room from crash injuries sustained while improperly restrained,” Blackwood said in a news release.

Throughout the month of May, HEAT teams will also focus enforcement on late-night safety belt violators during Click It Or Ticket.