(US 441-GA & NORTH & SOUTH CAROLINA)  For six days leading up to the Labor Day holiday travel weekend, the Georgia State Patrol and local police and sheriff’s deputies will participate in the 17th Annual Hands Across the Border highway safety awareness campaign. From Sunday, August 24th, through Friday, August 29th, 2008, Georgia law enforcement will join their partners from bordering states Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee in a major southeastern Operation Zero Tolerance (OTLUA) impaired driving enforcement initiative. In Georgia OZT means “Over the Limit. Under Arrest.”

WHO:       Highway safety advocates and law enforcement from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia & the Northeast Traffic Enforcement Network (NETEN).  NETEN includes law enforcement agencies from Hall, Jackson, Banks, Stephens, Rabun, Franklin, Hart, Forsyth, Dawson, White and Habersham counties.

WHAT:     ENFORCEMENT CAMPAIGN ROADCHECK SCHEDULED

WHERE:   6PM-Tuesday August 26 Meeting & Checkpoint Briefing at Head of Tennessee Baptist Church, 895 Franklin St. Dillard, GA 30537 directly across from Dillard City Hall  8PM-Tuesday August 26 Sobriety Checkpoint- US 441 at GA/North Carolina line.

POLICE IN FIVE STATES JOIN GEORGIA LAW ENFORCEMENT..

“Hands Across The Border means impaired driving laws will be strictly enforced from state-to-state in a seamless effort to save lives during the deadly Labor Day Holiday travel period,” says Director Bob Dallas of the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). “This week-long operation sends an unmistakable message to the motoring public that safe driving doesn’t stop at the state line. Our traffic laws may come from different books, but we’re all on the same page when it comes to taking drunk drivers off our roads,” says Director Dallas.

This year, Hands Across the Border is part of the “One Hundred Days of Summer HEAT” campaign sponsored by GOHS to raise awareness about the deadly consequences of speed, drunk and drugged driving, and failure to use safety belts and child restraints.  Remember, your best protection against an encounter with a drunk driver is a buckled safety belt.