An eight hour traffic blitz Dec. 3 by Union City Police resulted in nearly 250 traffic stops and five arrests. Periodic blitzes are designed to reduce the number and severity of crashes and to help free up emergency medical services for city residents, said Public Information Officer and Metro Atlanta Traffic Enforcement Network Coordinator George Louth.

Centering their efforts along I-85 between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., police stopped 246 vehicles, said Louth. Traffic stops netted 225 citations for speeding, nine seatbelt violations and 36 additional citations for violations such as tag or equipment violations, Louth said. A total of five arrests were made. Two of those were for small quantities of suspected marijuana while the remainder were for infractions such as driving without a license, he said.

Louth said all those cited for speeding were traveling in excess of 80 miles per hour. The highest rate of speed for which a citation was issued was to a 16 year-old driver clocked at 106 miles per hour while the highest speed recorded was a motorcyclist traveling at 138 miles per hour, Louth said. Pursuit of the motorcycle was terminated for safety reasons, he said.

“We were basically targeting stupid drivers. Those drivers include speeders, tailgaters, unsafe passers and those who are distracted and impatient,” Louth said. “Good drivers will concentrate on the drive and will wear seatbelts.”

Union City Police will conduct blitzes on a monthly basis, varying the time of day, day of the week and the location of the enforcement activity, Louth said.

I-85 is the city’s second highest roadway for traffic injuries, with Ga. Highway 138 being the city’s number one injury roadway.