Our Atlanta car accident attorneys know that many drivers make a lot of dangerous and careless choices behind the wheel. Despite the safety laws that are in place in Georgia, drivers continue to do things that put themselves and others at great risk of becoming involved in a car wreck. 
While there are a lot of different kinds of dangerous behavior that drivers engage in, two of the most risky behaviors behind the wheel include speeding and driving drunk. Georgia law enforcement is targeting both of these behaviors as part of the "100 Days of Summer HEAT."
Georgia Police Crack Down on Drivers
According to CBS Local Atlanta, all 159 counties throughout Georgia will be participating in the program called "100 Days of Summer HEAT." The program will kick off toward the end of May and is timed to coincide with the period when kids are out of school, when tourists come to visit, and when people throughout Atlanta are out doing activities in the warm weather.
The purpose of the Summer HEAT program is to save lives and to encourage drivers to avoid the riskiest types of driving mistakes. A spokesperson for the Governor's Office of Highway Safety was interviewed by CBS Atlanta and reiterated the focus on saving lives, indicating that the purpose of the targeted police effort is not just to issue tickets but is instead to actually make people safer during the summer driving season.
If drivers do not speed and/or if they do not drive drunk, then far fewer fatal crashes will occur as a result. Police hope that a statewide crackdown will discourage these behaviors. Drivers who are aware of the added police enforcement will ideally think twice before getting behind the wheel drunk or before driving aggressively fast and causing a crash.
Speeding and Drunk Driving are Top Accident Causes
Both aggressive speeding and drunk driving cause thousands of accidents and hundreds of deaths each year. Unfortunately, the risks of these dangerous driving behaviors are not limited to the person who made the choice and took the risk of driving drunk or going too fast. Innocent victims are often caught in accidents with aggressive or drunk drivers.
Drunk drivers or speeding drivers are more likely to:
- Veer out of their lanes, causing head-on accidents if they cross into oncoming traffic or side-swiping vehicles traveling beside them.
- Lose control of their vehicles, especially around curves. Drivers who take curves too fast increase their chances of roll-over accidents.
- Become involved in a high-speed, high-impact crash. A drunk driver may become involved in a high speed accident because the driver doesn't have the reflexes to slow down quickly enough when an accident is impending. A speeding driver is also unlikely to be able to slow the momentum of the car down in any significant way when a crash occurs.
- Disobey traffic signals or right-of-way rules.
Strict laws exist to prevent drunk driving and to ensure compliance with maximum speed limit rules. Unfortunately, police cannot be everywhere at all times, which means drivers still get away with breaking these laws and endangering themselves and others. The "100 Days of Summer HEAT" will hopefully reduce the dangerous behavior on the roads, and everyone will be safer this summer.
If you have been injured in an Atlanta car accident, contact Gary Martin Hays & Associates at 1-800-898-HAYS.