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Staff Reports

WHEN:   Thursday, May 23, 2024
12:00 p.m.

WHERE:  Lake Blackshear Resort
Veterans State Park
2459 US Highway 280
Cordele, Ga. 31015

WHAT: With more than one million Georgians predicted to be on the road during the Memorial Day Holiday weekend, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS), Georgia State Patrol and local law enforcement officers remind everyone that every trip should begin with the click of a seat belt.  Troopers, sheriff’s deputies and police officers will be enforcing all traffic laws during the extended holiday weekend, including speeding, DUI, distracted driving, and failure to wear a seat belt.  Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Game Wardens ask everyone heading to their favorite lake, river, or other state waterway to click their life jacket and make sure all children are properly wearing their safety jackets every time they are on the water.  Game Wardens will provide boat rides for photo and video needs after the news briefing.

WHY:    According to preliminary state crash data, 16 people were killed in passenger vehicle crashes in Georgia during the 2023 78-hour Memorial Day holiday weekend and 56 percent of those persons killed were not wearing seat belts.  Federal crash data shows 54% of the persons killed in passenger vehicle crashes in Georgia over a five-year period from 2018-2022 were not wearing a seat belt.  During this same five-year period, the annual front-time daytime observed seat belt rate in Georgia has fallen to 87.6% in 2023 from 95.9% in 2019.   According to the DNR Law Enforcement Division, 53 people drowned in Georgia lakes, rivers and other waterways in 2023.  Game Wardens also investigated 136 boating incidents that killed 20 people and arrested 273 people for Boating Under the Influence.  Georgia law prohibits persons from operating motor vehicles or watercraft with a Blood-Alcohol Concentration (BAC) level of .08 and higher.