TWIGGS COUNTY, Ga. — AAA is starting its Tow to Go program to keep people safe this St. Patricks' day weekend. It's for anyone who needs a safe, sober ride home.
When you call (855) 2-TOW-2-GO or (855) 286-9246, AAA sends a truck to take you and your car within a 10-mile radius.
The program runs until 6 a.m. on Monday, March 20th.
AAA asks you use this as a last resort, you should always choose a designated driver before going out.
The Twiggs County Sheriff's Office also wants to keep folks safe this weekend.
One way they plan to do that is through their annual Operation Wrong Exit. Especially if you're heading south to Savannah for St. Patrick's day, they want you to arrive alive.
According to Twiggs County Sheriff Darren Mitchum, last year they spent about half the time out here but still arrested about 40 people.
"Every year we'll get someone that came through the year before or the year before that. It's the same stuff they're either DUI or drug possession again," Mitchum said.
Operation Wrong Exit is aimed at taking impaired drivers off the road.
The Twiggs Sheriff's Office has been a part of this for more than 10 years now.
Mitchum says offenses that will put you in jail include: DUI, drug possession, and a suspended driver’s license or an outstanding warrant.
"You can't have security and convenience at the same time. You're going to have to give up a little bit of one or the other," Mitchum said.
He says even if the operation saves just one life it's still worthwhile.
"The whole drive behind what we’re doing, whether they're impaired on alcohol or drugs either way it's deadly," Mitchum said.
Roger Hayes is the Director for the Governor's office of Highway Safety.
He says Thursday they confiscated six pounds of marijuana.
"That's stuff that were able to take off the street and it not get into the public and poison our kids," Hayes said.
Just since January 1, there have already been 296 traffic fatalities in the state of Georgia.
"We're just trying to get people to pay attention to your driving. That's the task at hand you're operating a piece of heavy equipment," Hayes said.
"The bigger picture at the end of the day is that it keeps our community. Their community safe," Mitchum said.
In 2022 according to the sheriff's office more than 1,800 died and they say 64% of those were due to folks not wearing seat belts.
The sheriffs office says in eleven hours they arrested 29 and counting.