There probably aren't many Georgia motorists on the road these days that drove through the summer months without a keen awareness that state officials were conducting multiple DUI-awareness campaigns and making a concerted effort to crack down on drunk driving.
State and national traffic enforcement authorities strongly favor attaching slogans and acronyms to their efforts, so most Georgia drivers are probably well aware of some of these titles: Operation Zero Tolerance, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over; 100 Days of Summer Heat; and Hands Across the Border.
That last designation actually applies to a coalition of states involved in a crackdown that follows drivers across state lines. Hands Across the Border, now in its 20th year, is an annual impaired-driving initiative that was first organized by Georgia law enforcement officials and is conducted under the auspices of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety ("GOHS"). It involves sheriff's deputies and state troopers from Georgia and five other states: Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and North and South Carolina.
The campaign kicks off annually in the days that immediately lead up to Labor Day, but its organizers take pains to impart the message that it is a 365-days-a-year effort.
Says program director Harris Blackwood of the GOHS: "Hands Across the Border is once again sending a message to every corner of the state that nobody will get away with driving drunk on Labor Day or any other day."
Related Resource: The Weekly, "20th 'Hands Across the Border' DUI Enforcement" Aug. 26, 2011
