Effingham Co. Sheriff’s Office awarded over $86K for high visibility enforcement

EFFINGHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - The Effingham County Sheriff’s Office has been awarded a High Visibility Enforcement (HVE) grant in the amount of $86,533.10 from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) in Atlanta, according to a press release sent to WTOC.

Funding for this grant is provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and is awarded based upon the partnership with The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety in helping to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities across the State of Georgia.

High Visibility Enforcement 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.

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.

Allen Poole, Director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety

“Receiving these grant funds for traffic enforcement enables us to enhance public safety, reduce dangerous driving behaviors, and ensure that our roads are safer for everyone. With these resources, we can dedicate more personnel and technology to address critical traffic concerns and save lives,” said Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie.

As law enforcement partners in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over DUI and Click It or Ticket seatbelt campaigns, the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office will also conduct mobilizations throughout the year in coordination with GOHS’s year-round waves of high visibility patrols, multi-jurisdictional sobriety checkpoints.

The grant will continue through September of 2026.