Twiggs County Sheriff's Office awarded grant to help reduce traffic fatalities

TWIGGS COUNTY, Ga. (WGXA) -- The Twiggs County Sheriff's Office received some much-needed funding on Tuesday.

The office announced it received the High Visibility Enforcement (HVE) grant and was awarded $51,320.80 from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS).

HVE uses highly visible and proactive law enforcement to target a specific traffic safety issue in an effort to change unlawful and dangerous driving patterns. Most of which contribute to fatal and serious injury accidents. Law enforcement is combined with HVE elements to educate the public about traffic safety and promote voluntary compliance with traffic laws.

The goal of the project is to prevent crashes and save lives.

Director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, Allen Poole, shared, "We ask everyone to join the mission of saving lives on our roads by driving the speed limit, wearing your seat belt, staying off the phone when driving, and never driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.”

The Governor's Office of Highway Safety is working with highway safety partners to reduce the increase in traffic-related deaths in the United States. A noticeable increase that they said has been seen in the last two years.

On behalf of the Twiggs County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Darren Mitchum said he is "honored to accept this grant and is proud to partner with GOHS through providing education on traffic safety and enforcing Georgia traffic laws to slow down speeders, ensure everyone is buckled up/phone down, and remove impaired drivers from the roadways. The goal of the Twiggs County Sheriff’s Office is to reduce the number of crashes, injuries, and fatalities on our roadways”.

The grant will continue through September of 2023.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provided the funding for this grant in its partnership with GOHS to help reduce the number of wrecks, injuries, and fatalities across the state of Georgia.

For more information about the Twiggs County Sheriff’s Office grant award, you can contact Lieutenant Lee Smith: lee.smith@twiggssheriff.org and for more information on GOHS' highway safety programs visit www.gahighwaysafety.org.