Drivers are given their one and only warning to slow down, buckle up, park the phone and drive sober.
(WARNER ROBINS) The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety’s (GOHS) Thunder Task Force will begin a three-day traffic enforcement operation on Thursday in Warner Robins. Warner Robins Police, Houston County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia State Patrol, Middle Georgia Traffic Enforcement Network, and the GOHS Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Enforcement of Traffic (H.E.A.T.) Units will be targeting drunk and drugged driving, speeding, distracted driving, failure to obey Georgia’s seat belt law, and any other violations of Georgia traffic laws this weekend.
The Thunder Task Force Operation will begin Thursday morning and continue into the afternoon with officers from the Warner Robins Police Department, deputies from the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, and Troopers with the Georgia State Patrol enforcing all traffic laws including Georgia’s Hands-free law, seat belt use and speeding in the Warner Robins area. Members of the Middle Georgia Traffic Enforcement Network and GOHS H.E.A.T units will then join the operation for two nights of drunk and drugged driving checkpoints on Friday and Saturday nights.
Persons traveling in the Warner Robins area from Thursday through early Sunday morning should be on the lookout for law enforcement vehicles conducting traffic contacts and holding DUI checkpoints. Drivers are reminded to follow Georgia’s Move Over Law, which requires drivers to move over in the next adjacent lane if safe to do so or slow down to ten miles below the posted speed limit when passing a law enforcement vehicle parked on the side of the road with safety lights activated.
It is against Georgia law to operate a motor vehicle with a legal Blood-Alcohol Concentration (BAC) limit of .08 or higher. Any driver who is found to be operating a motor vehicle over the legal BAC limit will be arrested. No warnings will be given and no one will be allowed to call for a ride.
“There should be no one killed in a drunk or drugged driving crash in our state and nation because all of these deaths are caused by someone making the wrong decision to drive when they know they should not be behind the wheel". Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Director Allen Poole said. “That is why we are warning everyone to plan ahead for a ride with a sober driver because any driver found during this operation that is over the legal limit is going to be arrested. No excuses. No warnings.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 26 people died in passenger vehicle crashes in the city of Warner Robins from 2018 through 2022 and 28 percent of those fatal passenger vehicle crashes involved a driver whose BAC was .08 or higher. Federal crash data also show that nearly 60 percent of fatally impaired driving passenger vehicle crashes in Warner Robins during this five-year period involved a driver whose BAC was twice the legal limit.
State crash data in 2023 showed that 25 percent of the fatal passenger vehicle crashes in Warner Robins involved a confirmed impaired driver.
“Taking drunk and drugged drivers off the road saves lives and troopers, deputies and officers would rather make a DUI arrest than have to tell a family that a loved one is not coming home because they were killed by someone who made the foolish decision to drive under the influence of alcohol, drugs or a mixture of both substances.” Roger Hayes, GOHS Law Enforcement Services Director said. “We announce these events in advance because the goal is to keep drunk and drugged drivers off the road and we are giving you a warning now but there are never any warnings for those drivers caught over the limit by the Thunder Task Force.”
After this weekend’s operation, Warner Robins Police Department and other local agencies will continue concentrated drunk and drugged driving enforcement over the coming months with the goal of saving lives through the elimination of drunk and drugged driving traffic crashes.