GSP Hartwell Post Staying Busy After One Year Anniversary

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

The Georgia State Patrol Post 52 in Hartwell is moving into its second year.

One year into its operations, GSP Post 52 Commander Al Whitworth said after being open since the start of 2015, they have stayed busy at the new post.

“With the new office and having the manpower that we have here at this Post with 14 officers, gives us the ability to really show a presence. Over the year, this post worked 1,700 crashes and there were 15 fatalities for the year,” Whitworth said. “But the thing I’m most proud of is that there seems to be a reduction in fatalities in 2015 from 2014.”

Whitworth said that while fatalities are down, DUI’s and impaired driving remain concerns.

He said in 2015, the number of DUI and impaired driving cases increased with many of those drivers caught driving impaired on the Interstate.

“The biggest problem we’re seeing right now is that a lot of our fatalities are single driver fatalities,” he said. “People are just losing control and that’s all related to distracted driving.”

Now as the post enters 2016, Whitworth said his officers will be focusing more on cracking down on distracted drivers.

“We’re getting a lot of following-too-close accidents where they’re rear-ended,” Whitworth said. “A lot of that is directly related to cellphones. We’re making a concious effort to stop people from texting and driving. We try to focus on reaction times say at stop lights and weaving. It used to be weaving in the road meant an impaired driving, but now it’s more related to cellphone use.”

Whitworth said it is hard for an officer to tell if someone is texting while driving or just using their phone.