AUGUSTA, GA (WFXG) -
Officers are cracking down on drivers in Richmond County
that are breaking the law.
Sixty officers from across the state of Georgia searched vehicles at a Richmond
County checkpoint Friday night for drunk drivers, seat belt infractions, suspended
licenses and criminal activity.
There were 44 traffic fatalities in Richmond County last year;
that's an increase in traffic deaths of more than 130% since 2011.
The Law Enforcement Coordinator for the Governor's Office of
Highway Safety, Powell Harrison hopes Operation Thunder will be a safety check that can keep
those numbers down.
"We usually drive the fatalities down and everybody's a little bit more aware, they know we're out here working in force for the next 90 days," he said.
Richard Roundtree, the Richmond County Sheriff was at Friday
night's checkpoint and he said, "We're not only saving lives of the person who
may be impacted by the DUI but also the driver himself because he doesn't know
exactly what he's doing."
Roundtree tells Fox54 they handed out 184 citations Thursday when Operation Thunder began.
He says within the first hours of the Friday night
checkpoint officers made two DUI arrests and an arrest for drugs.
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