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Georgia I-95 Truck Safety Campaign
Friday, February 8, 2008 
(SAVANNAH, GA) - The Georgia Department of Public Safety and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today announced the start of a safety education and enforcement campaign along Interstate 95 in Chatham County to reduce the number of crashes involving commercial motor vehicles. The program, Georgia Targeting Aggressive Cars and Trucks (G-TACT), is funded with a grant from the FMCSA.
David Hugel, Deputy Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and Colonel Bill Hitchens, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety, announced the campaign for I-95 in Chatham County during a news conference this morning at the Georgia Welcome Center in Savannah. Law enforcement officers and traffic safety partners from the Georgia Motor Trucking Association were also on hand to launch the campaign and to call on all drivers to exercise care when traveling around commercial motor vehicles. In addition to cautioning motorists against cutting in front of the tractor trailers too soon when passing, officers also reminded drivers not to tailgate the large vehicles. "Keep greater distances behind tractor trailers in the event of a sudden stop or the truck driver ahead being forced to take emergency evasive action," Colonel Hitchens said.
Law enforcement agencies participating in the Georgia TACT program's I-95 wave are the Georgia State Patrol, the Department of Public Safety Motor Carrier Compliance Division, Georgia Ports Authority Police, Savannah-Chatham Metro Police, and the police departments in Pooler, Port Wentworth, Bloomingdale, and Garden City.
Colonel Bill Hitchens said the safety education and enforcement efforts will target not only passenger vehicles, but commercial vehicles as well. "The message to drivers is to leave more space when traveling around or changing lane in front of each other," he said. The Commissioner said billboards, public service announcements, radio spots, and highway signs are part of the public outreach for the campaign. "For motorists who travel I-95 each day, a crash involving a tractor trailer can cause extensive travel delays. One of the goals of the G-TACT Project is to reduce travel delays by reducing the number of crashes between passenger cars and commercial vehicles," he noted.
In conjunction with the education project is a week-long enforcement effort by officers in the corridor. They will be stopping motorists whose driving behavior places everyone at risk. "This campaign is about safety and reducing the number of crashes," Colonel Hitchens said. He said law enforcement will be watching for a variety of traffic violations including excessive speed, improper passing, reckless driving, driving across the gore or in a median, driving in the emergency lane, following too closely, failing to signal when changing lanes, trucks over six wheels traveling in the left lane, unsafe vehicles, and drivers operating commercial motor vehicles without a valid commercial driver's license.
Additional enforcement waves are planned in the corridor later this year. |
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