Sheriff's Office Receives Grant To Fight DUI, Speeding

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The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety has awarded the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office a grant to fight crashes and injuries caused by impaired driving or speeding.

The $145,500 grant will be used by the local agency’s H.E.A.T., or Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic, Unit to also enforce seatbelt use among motorists.

The grant was given to the Unit during the 2016 funding season for the Unit. It’s the third year the local Unit has been up and running.

“Agencies like Bartow County receive this H.E.A.T. grant because they have showed a particular dedication to protecting their citizens from impaired drivers,” said GOHS Director Harris Blackwell. “This dedication is crucial because alcohol-related deaths still account for 25 percent of traffic-related fatalities in Georgia.”

As enforcement partners of the statewide Click It or Ticket and Operation Zero Tolerance DUI initiatives, the sheriff’s office will also conduct mobilizations throughout the year as part of the state’s year-round waves of higher visibility patrols, multi-jurisdictional road checks and sobriety checkpoints.

Here are some facts provided by the sheriff’s office of the H.E.A.T. Unit’s activities between January and November 2015:

Speeding citations (over the posted speed limit):

• 11-25 mph: 69
• 16-20 mph: 149
• 21-25 mph:117
• 26-29 mph: 39
• 30 mph+: 30
• Warnings: 1,723

DUI Arrests: 76

Seatbelt citations: 36

Seatbelt warnings: 438

Drug arrests: 19

Fugitive arrests: 14

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Image via Shutterstock