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Dozens arrested in St. Patrick's Day DUI checkpoint

The Twiggs County Sheriffs Office, and other state agencies, arrested dozens of drivers off Interstate 16 on Friday. 

The Twiggs County Sheriff's Office, and several other state agencies, arrested dozens of drivers off Interstate 16 on Friday.

Roger Hayes works with the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety, and says this is the 15th year they've held a checkpoint in Twiggs County.

Law enforcement officers say it's a good day for a checkpoint because a lot of people are headed down I-16 east to Savannah to celebrate St. Patrick's Day weekend.

"It is a day when people like to consume a little too much of alcoholic beverages," says Hayes.

Hayes called the checkpoint "Operation Wrong Exit." He says federal law prohibits them from setting up a checkpoint on the actual interstate, so the officers set the checkpoint up on the ramp of exit 27.

"When you come up the exit ramp, a Twiggs County Deputy greets you, will talk with you just a moment, if they have any suspicion about any violations of the law or your story doesn't make good sense, they will just ask you to simply pull over," says Hayes.

At 6 p.m. on Friday officers had already arrested over 50 people. They expected that number to double by midnight.

Taquana Blacksheer lives off the exit and had to drive through the check point to get home.

"No, it didn't surprise me, I was not surprised at all. This is something they do every year," says Blacksheer.

"If nothing is detected and your driver's license comes back valid and everything is good to go, we send you down the road with minimum delay," says Hayes.

According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, 269 people have died on Georgia highways since the beginning of the year.

Hayes says approximately 25 percent of those highway deaths were related to alcohol.

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