Special to the WJH The Waycross Police Department has received a grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety in its effort to improve traffic safety, Patrol Section Commander Capt. Benji Hersey said in a media release last week.
Funding for the $42,391 High Visibility Enforcement (HVE) grant is provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and awarded based upon the partnership with the (GOHS) in helping to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities across Georgia.
Hersey said the funding will help with the acquisition of speed detection equipment and also help offset the hours spent by officers conducting traffic enforcement. The grant will continue through September of 2026, he said.
“One of the highest priorities of the Waycross Police Department is to keep our roadways safe by reducing traffic accidents through effective traffic enforcement,” Chief Tommy Cox said. “Being awarded the High Visibility Enforcement grant will undoubtedly help us acquire the tools necessary to achieve this goal. We’re extremely grateful to have partners like the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, who share the same mission.”
HVE combines highly visible and proactive law enforcement to target a specific traffic safety issue designed to change unlawful and dangerous driving behaviors that contribute to most of the fatal and serious- injury traffic crashes on our roads.
Law enforcement efforts are combined with visibility elements and public notification on the enforcement campaign to educate the public on traffic safety and promote voluntary compliance with the law.
“Crash data shows enforcement and education of traffic laws are two of most effective countermeasures to help our state and nation reduce crashes and eliminate deaths and serious injuries on our roads,” said Allen Poole, GOHS Director. “Each life saved on our roads is one less family that will have to live with the pain of losing a loved one whose life was taken from them in a traffic crash that was completely preventable” Hersey said with the additional funding, “the hope is to reduce the number of injuries from accidents within the city.”
As law enforcement partners in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over DUI and Click It Or Ticket seatbelt campaigns, WPD will also will conduct mobilizations throughout the year in coordination with GOHS’s year-round waves of high visibility patrols, multi-jurisdictional sobriety checkpoints.
