Crackdown on Bulloch County Drivers

A 90-day crackdown on Bulloch County's deadliest drivers begins Wednesday, January 21st. The Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) is sending in the Rolling Thunder Taskforce, a specialized traffic enforcement response team designed to help Georgia communities combat abnormally high occurrences of traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities, to target high-risk drivers throughout the county.

Bulloch County has a fatality crash rate higher than that of other similarly sized counties and a higher than average proportion of speed-related crashes.

The goal of the Thunder Taskforce will be to show a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and injuries over the coming three-month period. Their strategy applies a combined speed and DUI crackdown, running roadchecks and concentrated patrols on state routes, rural roads, and interstate highways over the three month period. Taskforce officers will conduct day-and-night safetybelt and sobriety roadchecks on local roadways on an ever-changing schedule while collecting enforcement data to document their life-saving progress.

This Taskforce will be joined by local law enforcement agencies from the regional GOHS Southeastern Traffic Enforcement Network (SETEN). The SETEN Traffic Enforcement Network includes participating law enforcement agencies from neighboring Effingham, Chatham, Bryan, Candler, Screven and Evans counties.

During previous 90-day mobilizations Operation Rolling Thunder successfully reduced traffic fatalities in the Savannah-Chatham Metro Area by 68% and reduced traffic related fatality crashes by 87% during the Bartow/Paulding County mobilization. While fatality crash statistics are still being calculated from the latest Barrow/Oconee County THUNDER mission, the enforcement operation there apprehended 31 fugitives, arrested 137 motorists for driving without licenses, and put 265 drunk drivers behind bars before they could take innocent lives on Georgia highways.