The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) has awarded the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office more than $20,000 for traffic enforcement. The sheriff’s office says it will use the money to develop and implement strategies aimed at reducing crashes caused by dangerous and aggressive driving behaviors.
GOHS awards the federally-funded grants annually through its Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic (H.E.A.T.) program. The program aims to assist jurisdictions with the highest rates of traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities. Grants are awarded based on impaired driving and speeding data.
“The loss of one life on our roads is one too many, and the fact almost all fatal traffic crashes can be prevented is one reason why we are awarding this grant,” says GOHS Director Allen Poole. He calls the target of zero traffic deaths in our nation “achievable” and says the H.E.A.T. program will continue working toward that goal.
GOHS awarded a total of $6.7 million in grants for 2021. Habersham received $21,158 and is among 21 law enforcement agencies statewide to receive funding for specialized traffic enforcement activities.
As law enforcement partners in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over DUI and Click It or Ticket seatbelt campaigns, the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office will also conduct mobilizations throughout the year in coordination with GOHS’s year-round waves of high visibility patrols, concentrated patrols, and multi-jurisdictional sobriety checkpoints.
The grant will continue through September of 2021.
