Gwinnett Daily Post

SUWANEE - While the traditional time for making resolutions for the new year is less than three weeks away, those who plan to drive through Suwanee may want to consider making resolutions now to obey the speed limit and use their vehicles' turn signals.

The Suwanee Police Department plans to have concentrated patrols on Lawrenceville-Suwanee and Suwanee Dam roads through the end of January, and police officers will be looking for motorists speeding, tailgating, and cutting into or through traffic, Lt. Cass Mooney said.

The traffic enforcement program is called Suwanee CARES, or Suwanee Corridor 317 Accident Reduction and Enforcement Strategy.

"We want to bring the number of crashes, injuries and deaths on Suwanee roadways down," Mooney said. "We hope that drivers will assist us in this effort by easing up a little on the gas pedal and paying attention to other traffic laws."

Police are targeting Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road because that's where 56 percent of the crashes in Suwanee have happened, Mooney said. As the main east-west corridor through Suwanee, the road also known as Ga. 317 provides access to parks, two elementary schools and North Gwinnett High School.

There have been 894 crashes in Suwanee this year through November, and 501 of them have happened along Ga. 317, according to the Police Department. Of the 270 crash-related injuries in Suwanee, 152 happened along Lawrenceville-Suwanee and Suwanee Dam roads. Three high school students were killed in October in an accident at Lawrenceville-Suwanee and Smithtown roads.

Aggressive driving accounts for 78 percent of crashes along Ga. 317, according to the police department.

"We'll still be out and about patrolling other parts of the city," Mooney said.

While other roads in Suwanee such as Peachtree Industrial Boulevard also have high crash rates, Mooney said the Police Department is focusing on one highway because the department plans to study the results of the concentrated patrols.

At the end of January, Mooney said the Police Department will compare the number of crashes with previous years.