MONTGOMERY – Alabama Department of Public Safety holiday safety campaigns have one goal: to prevent crashes, injuries and fatalities along Alabama’s roadways.
During Memorial Day weekend holiday travel period – from 6 p.m. Friday, May 24, to midnight Monday, May 27 – all available state troopers and their law enforcement partners across the state will be conducting a traffic safety initiative designed to save lives.
“We expect heavier than usual traffic during this extended holiday weekend, and we will aggressively enforce
Col. Hugh B. McCall
traffic laws,” said Col. Hugh B. McCall, Public Safety’s director and the state’s highest-ranking state trooper. “Troopers will target such dangerous behavior as speeding, DUI, distracted driving, following too closely and other driving behaviors that cause crashes and contribute to more severe crashes.”
In addition, troopers will engage in routine patrols and be available to assist motorists, McCall said.
During this past year’s 78‐hour Memorial Day weekend, troopers investigated three fatal crashes that resulted in three fatalities. Two of the individuals killed were the drivers of passenger vehicles, and the third individual was operating a motorcycle. Alcohol was involved in at least one of the three crashes. And, in the two crashes involving passenger vehicles, the individuals killed were not using seat belts.
This year, troopers again will participate in the national Click It Or Ticket safety initiative, which began Monday and will run throughJune 2, to promote the use of seat belts and child restraints. Troopers and their law enforcement partners will be looking for motorists who are not buckled up. In Alabama, the seat belt law mandates that all front-seat occupants — regardless of age — be restrained. The state’s child restraint law requires the following size‐appropriate restraint systems for children riding in front and back seats:
-Infant‐only seats and convertible seats used in the rear‐facing position for infants until at least 1 year of age or 20 pounds
-Convertible seats in the forward position or forward‐facing seats until the child is at least 5 years of age or 40 pounds
-Booster seats until the child is 6 years of age
-Seat belts until the child is 15 years of age
McCall said the expanded enforcement initiative is made possible by grants provided by the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. He cited ALDOT and ADECA as valuable partners in the state’s traffic safety efforts and thanked them for their ongoing support.
“Let’s make Memorial Day weekend enjoyable and safe for everyone on Alabama’s roadways, but to do this, we troopers need the motoring public’s help,” McCall said. “Our safety campaign is about preventing crashes and saving lives – not raising revenue.”
