ATLANTA – The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety has announced that the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office is one of 17 law enforcement agencies in Georgia to receive a Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic grant for the 2016 grant season. Referred to as an H.E.A.T. grant, Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office’s award totals $250,000.
The goal of the H.E.A.T. program is to combat crashes, injuries and fatalities caused by impaired driving and speeding, while also increasing seatbelt use and educating the public about traffic safety and the dangers of DUI.
The Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office H.E.A.T Unit will use the grant from GOHS to develop and implement strategies to reduce local traffic crashes due to aggressive and dangerous driving behaviors.
“Agencies like the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office receive this H.E.A.T. grants because they have showed a particular dedication to protecting their citizens from impaired drivers,” said GOHS Director Harris Blackwood. “This dedication is crucial because alcohol-related crash deaths still account for 25 percent of traffic fatalities in Georgia. We are grateful to Sheriff Chris Prine and his staff for their continued hard work.”
Totaling $3.2 million for 2016, H.E.A.T. grants fund specialize traffic enforcement units in counties throughout the state. The program was designed to assist Georgia jurisdictions with the highest rates of traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities with grants awarded based on impaired driving and speeding data.
“Joining forces with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety will augment the protection provided to the driving population of Lowndes County,” said Lowndes County Sheriff Chris Prine. “There has been an unacceptable fourteen traffic fatalities in Lowndes County this year. It becomes personal when we have fourteen people who will never make it home to their family.”
As law enforcement partners in the Operation Zero Tolerance DUI and Click It Or Ticket seatbelt campaigns, the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office will also conduct mobilizations throughout the year in coordination with GOHS’s year-round waves of high visibility patrols, multi-jurisdictional road checks and sobriety checkpoints.
For more information about the H.E.A.T. program or any other GOHS campaign, visit www.gahighwaysafety.org or call 404-656-6996.
Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office Release
