THOMASVILLE — The Grady County Sheriff’s Office is stepping up its efforts to curtail the amount of driving-under-the-influence arrests within its jurisdiction.

“We are going to crack down on it,” Sheriff Harry Young said. “A person that gets behind the wheel impaired is not only putting themselves at risk but also others who may just be coming home from work or on their way out to dinner.

“It’s a lot cheaper to call a taxi or a friend to pick you up instead of getting a DUI. We want people to realize we are not going to put up with it in Grady County.”

DUI-related arrests average a minimum of two a weekend on regular patrol, according to the sheriff. He said DUI numbers have doubled in the last year.

The county will be “beefing up” its road blocks and this decision came after the Fourth of July holiday weekend, Young said.

“We don’t want it to just be on holidays when we know people will have consumed more alcohol,” he said. “We want it to be a year-round project.”

The county, with the requested aid of the Georgia State Patrol Post 12 in Thomasville, held roadblocks this past weekend.

“Whenever one of our area law enforcement offices asks for help we try to extend whatever help we can,” Sgt. Scott Woodell, post commander, said. “Our charge is to augment law enforcement in our area.”

Woodell said GSP also has upped its efforts to decrease the number of area DUIs, including targeting one area/county for a weekend. He said there were approximately 26 DUI-related arrests this weekend in the post’s coverage area.

Grady was the recipient of this weekend’s target activities and six roadblocks were set up throughout the county.

Woodell said GSP troopers use drug symptomology to ascertain what type of drug(s) a stopped driver may be under the influence of at the time.

“We’ve taken a much broader vision on DUI drivers than just stepping to the window and seeing if we smell alcohol or drugs,” he said.

“We study the visual effects of drugs on the body, as well as the mental effects, so we can detect whether that person is under the influence of any type of narcotics. We run folks through an additional battery of tests to detect those types of drivers.”

Woodell said most people think “drugs” only means things like marijuana and cocaine — illegal drugs — but he stressed that anything with “an adverse effect on normal functions of the body,” like prescription medications, are also included.

Young said the legally impaired limit is .08 blood alcohol level or above, but stressed the actual limit that impairs drivers varies by person.

He said there has been one DUI-related death in Grady this year, but that is one too many.

“Just pick up the phone and call someone you know or call the sheriff’s office,” Young said.

Woodell suggested a question all persons ask themselves before getting behind the wheel.

“Ask yourself would you be comfortable with your loved ones passing you on a two-lane road,” he said.

“A DUI arrest can give you a criminal record, cost you money, be embarrassing and cause judicial issues that could all be remedied with just one little phone call to a friend or a plan to have a designated driver.”

Young intends to continue the increased efforts until there is a marked improvement in DUI arrests.

“We will not just be doing road blocks on main highways, but also on county roads and back roads,” he stressed. “The plan is to keep doing some sort of road block every weekend and maybe some weekdays until we see a marked improvement.

“This seems to be the only thing that works and I feel like it is a good deterrent on DUIs.”