Highway patrol officers in the Southeast will beef up their presence and coordinate across state lines over Labor Day weekend in an effort to curb alcohol-related deaths and other traffic fatalities.
Law enforcement officials from across an eight-state region met in Kennesaw, Ga., on Wednesday to announce what they're calling Zero For 24 - a project with the goal of allowing no drunk-driving deaths on Labor Day.
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee make up the southeastern region of Operation CARE - which stands for Combined Accident Reduction Effort.
Started in 1977, Operation CARE is a group of state law enforcement agencies that works together to reduce highway accidents, particularly on national holidays.
"Each of these states is committed to this," said Lt. Jeff Babb, of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, who chairs the group's southeast region. "What we're trying to do is not only increase public awareness, but the bottom line is we're trying to save lives in the process."
A total of 16,885 people died in alcohol-related crashes in the U.S. in 2005, according to the National Highway Safety Administration. The number of deaths increased in 25 states between 2004 and 2005.
Despite law-enforcement efforts, those figures have remained relatively constant.
