Stepped Up Traffic Enforcement In Effingham County

(EFFINGHAM COUNTY, February 8, 2010) Two traffic fatalities in Effingham County last month have prompted Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie to call for a crackdown on traffic violations county wide.  If you’re driving through Effingham County this month - you’d be wise to take extra care to follow the rules of the road…if you don’t - deputies will be pulling you over to deliver a reminder.  “To make people realize that you know, safety is an issue when they’re driving and operating motor vehicles - they need to be aware of their surroundings and take time to get from one place to the next without hurting themselves or somebody else,” says Deputy Robert McQuaig.  He says that reminder is coming in the form of both tickets and warnings…being handed out for violations both big and small, “We’re giving warnings - we’re using good common sense and judgment calls on what we are writing - our main goal is just to make Effingham a safer county and make the highways of this state safer by doing what we’re doing…most of the time, if it’s a minor traffic violation - once you explain to ‘em the reason why you stopped ‘em and that you’re not gonna give a ticket, it’s just a courtesy warning - they’re pretty understanding of it.”

There are four additional deputies working traffic detail each day and night - overtime has been approved to make the extra enforcement possible.  “You don’t ever know when we’re gonna be out - it’s gonna be various shifts - we’re kinda setting our shifts as far as when we do come and go - when we do have overlapping shifts there’s gonna be roadchecks at various places - we’re not gonna spend a lot of time in one area,” says Deputy McQuaig.  The crackdown is expected to last through the end of the month.  In the first week - deputies working the traffic units handed out 180 citations along with 85 warnings…most for speeding and seatbelt violations.  The traffic detail also made 6 DUI arrests and eleven other arrests for things like warrants and drug possession.