Albany drivers ticketed during statewide distracted driver crackdown
File Photo: Carlton Fletcher
By Carlton Fletcher
[email protected]
ALBANY — Driving the six or so blocks from Slappey Drive to the Albany Civic Center along Oglethorpe Boulevard Wednesday morning, one would have to have been asleep not to have noticed the heavy law enforcement presence along the busy thoroughfare.
Just before 10 a.m. during a drive along Oglethorpe, State Patrol and Albany Police Department officials had five vehicles pulled over simultaneously, their blue lights flashing in the mid-morning sunshine.
The heavy presence of the law was part of a statewide crackdown on distracted driving by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, the State Patrol and local law enforcement that began Monday and will continue through the week.
“We want the public to know that we will do anything — and, yes, that includes citations — to cut down on accidents on Georgia highways,” Roger Hayes, the director of Law Enforcement Services for the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, said as he monitored traffic at the intersection of Oglethorpe and Washington Street Wednesday. “The main things we’re looking for is for people not wearing seatbelts and people driving distractedly, talking on their phones or texting.
“So far this year, 49% of accidents involve roadway departures. A lot of that is distracted driving. So, no, we’re not above writing a citation if it in some way helps stop crashes on our roadways.”
GOHS Communications Director Robert Hydrick said the joint crackdown will continue through the week at different locations in the state.
“We were in Savannah Monday, here today, and we’ll be in Atlanta-Fairburn tomorrow,” Hydrick said. “Distracted Driving Awareness Month was planned for April, but with COVID, it was moved to October. We want to do what we can to curtail distracted driving. We’ve had more than 1,500 traffic deaths for each of the past three years, and that’s too many. While statistics are not available now, common sense tells you that a lot of those deaths were the results of distracted driving.”
Lt. Maurice Raines with the State Patrol said the crackdown is a way to remind Georgians of the dangers of distracted driving.
“We partner with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety as a way to educate drivers,” Raines said. “These (cellphones) have had a major impact on driver safety, and if it takes making a case against distracted drivers, that’s what we’ll do.
“The goal here is to be seen, and then to simply enforce the law. Awareness is an important part of what we do.”
During their show of enforcement force in Albany Wednesday, GOHS, State Patrol and APD “spotters” watched traffic at the corner of Oglethorpe and Washington, looking for drivers using cellphones, not wearing seatbelts, speeders and others who might be impaired.
“Those four behaviors … if we change those behaviors, we make an impact,” Hydrick said. “It’s important that people think and realize that 90% of traffic deaths are preventable.”
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration figures show that 5% of all drivers in fatal crashes in the U.S. in 2018 were reported as distracted at the time of the crash. That figure goes up to 8% for drivers ages 15-19.
“Those pulled over for violating the Georgia Hands-Free Law should expect to be handed a ticket,” Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Director Allen Poole said. “Cellphones make our lives easier, but no text, social media post or video is worth your life or the lives of others.”
Additional information on distracted driving is available at headsupgeorgia.com.
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