Truck safety campaign underway in Hall, Gwinnett

ATLANTA - Law enforcement officers who patrol Interstates 85 and 985 in Hall and Gwinnett counties launched the latest enforcement wave of the Georgia TACT Program Monday.

G-TACT, or Georgia Targeting Aggressive Cars and Trucks, is a traffic safety campaign to increase driver awareness of the dangers they face with risky driving behaviors around commercial motor vehicles. The program combines educational outreach with traffic enforcement in an effort to reduce the number of crashes between commercial vehicles and much-smaller passenger vehicles.

This week's enforcement effort is the first of six, five-day campaigns to be conducted every other week through October. The enforcement corridor is along Interstate 85 in Gwinnett County from Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road to U.S. Highway 129 in Jackson County and along Interstate 985 from I-85 in Gwinnett to Exit 24 in Hall County. Law enforcement agencies participating in the G-TACT effort are the Gwinnett County Police Department, Hall County Sheriff's Department, Gainesville Police, the Georgia State Patrol, and the state Department of Public Safety Motor Carrier Compliance Division.

The I-85/I-985 area was selected for this G-TACT enforcement wave based on traffic crash data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that shows 1,160 crashes involving commercial motor vehicles across the two-county area between 2007 and 2009.

The crashes resulted in 796 injuries and 25 fatalities and involved a commercial motor vehicle and either other cars or objects. Commercial motor vehicle crashes with passenger vehicles in Georgia account for an average of 15 percent of Georgia highway fatalities each year. In fatal crashes that involve at least one large truck and a passenger vehicle, 90 percent of the people killed are occupants of the passenger vehicle. Crash data also shows the majority of the commercial vehicle crashes are caused by a driving mistake made by the driver of the smaller passenger vehicle.

In addition to cautioning drivers to "leave more space" this week, law enforcement officers will be watching for drivers of both cars and trucks that are tailgating, changing lanes too quickly, crossing the gore or median, driving recklessly, speeding, driving in the emergency lane, failing to signal when changing lanes, operating a vehicle without an appropriate valid license, and trucks over six wheels traveling in the left lane.

Colonel Bill Hitchens, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety, said drivers can prevent crashes by allowing more space before changing lanes. "Keep a greater distance behind tractor trailers also so you can stop should the truck driver ahead be forced to take emergency evasive action," he said. "When you tailgate a tractor trailer, you can't see what's in front of the truck and you are not prepared for sudden stops."

As part of the public outreach and education efforts for this campaign, billboards, commercial radio spots, newspaper ads, specially wrapped tractor-trailers, and safety messages on the Department of Transportation's Overhead Variable Message Signs are being utilized for the G-TACT campaign.

"For motorists who travel Georgia interstates each day, a crash involving a tractor trailer can cause extensive travel delays, especially when the crash involves a fatality. We want to reduce travel delays by reducing the number of crashes between passenger cars and commercial vehicles," he noted.

Funding for the Georgia TACT program is provided to the Georgia Department of Public Safety by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.