click it or ticket

Published on: September 5, 2022

Georgia Cracks Down on Speeding Drivers to Prevent Car Accidents

High speeds are a major factor in car accidents in the metro Atlanta region and across Georgia every year. Concerned at the growing number of car wrecks involving speeding drivers, Georgia and a number of Southern states are enforcing speed limits and cracking down on errant drivers.

Operation Southern Slow Down is a multi-state initiative that involves a total of five Southern States including Georgia. The week-long campaign this year will see law enforcement officers in all of these states cracking down on speeding drivers. In the five years that Operation Southern Slow Down has been conducted, Georgia Highway Patrol officers have written down more than 55,000 speeding tickets. Police have also pulled over 3,200 drivers for driving under the influence of alcohol during the week-long enforcement campaign over the past 5 years.

Officers intend to spend a lot of time and attention on speeding drivers in construction work zones. For instance, Interstate 95 and Interstate 16 are currently home to construction zones, and officers will be looking at cracking down on speeding drivers in these areas. Workers in construction zones are always at a high risk of personal injuries in car accidents, and those risks are amplified when there are speeding drivers in these zones. Speed limits are always posted well before the start of a construction work zone and even through the zone. Drivers must lower speeds as soon as they see these signs and stick to the posted speed limits as they drive through the construction zone.

Published on: January 9, 2012

Georgia Troopers’ Annual Click It or Ticket Campaign to Minimize Car Accident Injuries

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Georgia State Troopers have kicked off their annual seatbelt enforcement campaign during the holiday season, aimed at making sure that motorists and children are safely restrained in their vehicles to prevent a personal injury in auto accidents.The campaign coincided with the start of the year’s biggest and most accident-prone holiday season.

One of the most frequent questions asked of personal injury lawyers is whether there is an increase in car accidents at any particular time of year. Well, the calls for help to attorneys certainly increase at holiday time. Over the holidays, more Americans travel than at any other time of the year.Largenumbers of motorists drove across Georgia to spend Thanksgiving with their families.Over the following few weeks, holiday traffic increased as people rush to stores to buy gifts, leading to a culmination of holiday travel plans between Christmas and New Years’.

Not only were there more motorists on the roads over the holiday season than during any other time, but many of them were in less than perfect condition for driving.The numbers of intoxicated motorists spikes around Christmas, reaching a peak during New Year’s.Additionally, most holiday drivers are less patient, and in a hurry.Besides, holiday shoppers are less focused on safety, and more focused on finding a parking spot.All of these factors severely increase the risk of car accidents.

Published on: November 19, 2009

Georgia Kicks Off Holiday Seatbelt Enforcement Campaign

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Thanksgiving season is upon us, and it’s time for the Turkey, the family get together, and the need for greater care while driving around Georgia.

The year’s biggest holiday is also its deadliest. Accident rates spike during the 102-hour period, killing and injuring several motorists and passengers. Anticipating massive holiday travel, Georgia officials have kicked off the “Click it or Ticket” campaign. The seatbelt enforcement campaign began on Monday, and will last through the holiday weekend. There will be severe patrols, and officers will stop vehicles to check for seatbelt usage.Enforcement will go on during the day and night.

Last year, 19 people died in Georgia during the Thanksgiving weekend, and 1,457 people were injured in a total of 3,815 accidents. According to the Governor‘s Office of Highway Safety, 136 lives could have been saved last year only if the victims had remembered to wear seatbelts.

Published on: May 18, 2009

Georgia Embarking on Seat belt Campaign to Reduce Accident-related Injuries

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Law enforcement agencies in the state have launched a campaign to encourage seatbelt use among Georgia drivers to prevent serious accident-related injuries, especially those occurring on rural roads. It is a shift from previous efforts that focused such enforcement in urban centers, and it has to do with the dismal picture of seatbelt use in rural areas.

According to Governor’s Office of Highway Safety deputy director Spencer Moore, rural roads are some of the most dangerous ones, but seat belt usage here is much lower than in urban centers. In 2008, drivers in urban areas in the state were 84 percent likely to buckle up, while in rural areas, that percentage was 79. The discrepancy in seatbelt usage in urban and rural areas is clear to see in the accident fatality rates in these regions. In 2007, 342 people died in automobile accidents in the five metro Atlanta counties. During the same period of time, 527 died in accidents in Georgia’s most rural counties.

Seatbelts save lives. While those higher fatality rates on rural roads may have to do with other causal factors like a shortage of trauma centers in these areas, seatbelts can prevent the kind of critical injuries that result after serious accidents.