Milledgeville police using H.E.A.T to reduce accidents in the city

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – This week, Milledgeville police officers are increasing their presence on one of the main roads in the city. Police say they want drivers to know about their H.E.A.T. program, and how a few safety tips will help reduce the number of accidents year round.

“We’ve noticed that we have traffic accidents, primarily on North Columbia Street between Lakeside and the edge of the city limits,” Major John Davis says.

It’s a problem Major Davis wants to fix. He and Milledgeville police’s traffic division are using Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic — or H.E.A.T. — to help drivers.

“The biggest factors in our accidents are often following to closely, speeding to a lesser degree, and improper lane changes things like that,” Davis says.

This is the third year officers are using the program introduced by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. Davis says since they’ve started, car accidents in the city have significantly dropped.

“I think that first year that we started there was a really significant drop in accidents, I want to say almost 300 over the course of the year and we’ve continued to see a drop in accidents,” he says.

Still there are drivers who don’t follow the rules. Since starting in May, officers have pulled over nearly 200 People in a month on North Columbia Street.

“I think we issued about 180, we made contact with about 180 motorists and issued about 130 citations,” Sgt. Thomas Smith says.

“We try to target those offenses to try to lower accidents,” Davis adds.

“Most people know when they’re too close. If you think you’re too close, you probably are. Try to stay 2 to 3 seconds away from the car that’s in front of you. Give yourself that safety zone,” Davis says.

Residents will start to see more squad cars in the area.

“What it is we’re looking for with the move over law, following to close, what the ‘super speeder’ law is, a lot of people don’t know what the ‘super speeder’ law is. We’re out here trying to get some of these wrecks down,” Smith says.

Officers say safer roads mean a safer city, and they want to do their part to make that happen.

The H.E.A.T. program will continue until September first. Each month, officers will rotate between education and enforcement to make sure drivers know the laws.

For more information about H.E.A.T. click here.