For immediate release june 2007 For more information
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D NEWS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJUNE 2007 Jim Shuler, GOHS Public Affairs 404-656-6996 or 888-420-0767 jshuler@gohs.ga.gov RIVE BUZZED, GET BUSTED THIS 4TH! BLUE LIGHTS & BAT-TRAILERS* AT DUI-ROADCHECKS OPERATION ZERO TOLERANCE: OVER THE LIMIT. UNDER ARREST (ATLANTA)—Coming soon to a mile-marker near you: A BAT-Trailer at a holiday sobriety checkpoint. It may sound like it’s named for a comic book crime-fighter, but the BAT-Trailer is really Georgia’s no-nonsense solution for taking DUI enforcement out on road trips where drunk drivers are still the cause behind one-out-of-five fatal crashes. BAT-Trailer means Breath-Alcohol-Testing (BAT). It also means cops are cracking down all over Georgia. BAT-Trailers are being deployed at road-checks around the state this July fourth and each one of them is a fully-equipped, custom-built field unit with a reporting station where officers can sit down with their laptops to write DUI arrest reports. “A BAT-Trailer is a one-stop cop-shop,” says Director Bob Dallas of the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). “It’s a combination mobile command post and traffic enforcement toolbox on wheels.” The BAT-Trailers come with on-board generators and light kits as standard equipment so officers can safely continue night-time operations at rural roadcheck locations far from the safety of city street lights. “With these BAT-Trailers police can run more efficient sobriety roadchecks, run them longer, and run them more often,” says GOHS Director Dallas. “That means more impaired drivers behind bars and that equates to more lives saved on our roadways.” Each GOHS field trailer is outfitted with a certified and calibrated Intoxilyzer Unit for checking Breath Alcohol Levels on suspected drunk drivers. So these BAT-Trailers allow law enforcement officers to conduct complete impaired driving enforcement operations even when the nearest police department or State Patrol Post may be a county away. “And with a 159 counties to cover in Georgia, BAT-Trailers are critical for taking the fight against impaired driving into the field,” says Director Dallas. Once breathalyzer tests are done, the units have built-in holding cells to secure violators until prisoner transport can be arranged. Miles away from any jail, they bring holding cells out to where police are holding the line against DUI deaths on our highways. (PAGE 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ) “Most motorists don’t realize the risk of a driver dying in a crash at .08 BAC is at least 11 times that of drivers without alcohol in their system. That’s why driving with a BAC of .08 or higher is now illegal in every state,” says Director Dallas. The GOHS BAT-Trailer initiative is part of a multi-year highway fatality reduction project to place police support equipment in sixteen traffic enforcement network regions around the state. The trailer initiative is supplemented by three BAT-Mobile police command post units stationed at the Gwinnett, Albany, and Warner Robins Police departments. The police Bat-Mobile units were purchased with matching grant money from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety. The combined GOHS investment totals around three quarters of a million dollars to assist Georgia communities in the battle to keep their streets safe. Many other public safety agencies around the state like Atlanta, Valdosta, and Clayton County Police also have their own BAT-Mobiles for DUI-duty. “These BAT-Trailer and BAT-Mobile units can play a major role in helping our law enforcement partners conduct impaired driving mobilizations on our state roads and highways,” says Director Dallas. “They not only raise the visibility of law enforcement operations, they also increase the perceived threat of detection and risk of being arrested.” Georgia motorists shouldn’t be surprised to see these BAT-Units set up at sobriety checkpoints on roadways throughout the holiday travel season. Safe drivers will just go on their way, but motorists who drive drunk will go to jail. “The travel season between July Fourth and Labor Day can be one of the most dangerous times of the year on our roads. So we’re targeting travel periods when impaired driving and summer holiday traffic volumes are historically the highest,” says Director Dallas. The message is simple. You drive impaired in Georgia, you WILL go to jail. It is Operation Zero-Tolerance. Over The Limit. Under Arrest. The holiday OZT campaign is part of the GOHS 100 Days of Summer H.E.A.T. initiative launched to raise driver awareness about the deadly consequences of speed, drunk and drugged driving, and failure to use safety belts and child restraints. For more information about Operation Zero Tolerance and the 100 Days of Summer H.E.A.T. campaign, visit the GOHS website at www.gahighwaysafety.org. Governor’s Office of Highway Safety 34 Peachtree Street—Suite 800—One Park Tower—Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Visit us on the web at www.georgiahighwaysafety.org Sonny Perdue, Governor Robert F. 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