Law enforcement patrols roads, lakes to enforce new laws this Labor Day

HALL COUNTY, Ga. — Law enforcement was out in full force Monday night not only patrolling the roads but also the local lakes.

Channel 2's Rachel Stockman road with rangers as they caught violators of new laws meant to keep children safe on the water.

From the road, Georgia State Patrol troopers pulled over car after car coming off Lake Lanier.

"We've investigated nine crashes, two of which involved impaired drivers," said Cpl. C.E Parker of the GSP.

On the lakes, Department of Natural Resources rangers were enforcing a new law, just enacted to protect the safety of children.

"Any person under 13 while the boat is in power has to have a life jacket on," said Cpl. Byron Young with DNR.

Stockman was with rangers when they spotted several potential violators. In one boat, two boys were without jackets. They were 7 and 3 years old.

"They usually wear them, but we got in the boat and they weren't any," said the man behind the wheel of the boat.

The DNR rangers let the man off with just a warning.

"We have seen some this summer. We are trying to educate," Young said.

Another concern this summer is children riding on platforms of boats.

Just recently, a 7-year-old was rushed to the hospital on Lake Allatoona.

"She actually had carbon monoxide poisoning, an usual incident, but something that can happened when someone rides at the ski platform of the boat," Sgt. Mike Barr with the DNR said.

It's a safety precaution Ernie Brown said he always takes with his 13-year-old.

"The boat is off when she is on the platform," Brown told Stockman.

DNR released stats late Monday night of how many incidents they had across the state on the Labor Day holiday weekend. According to their boating information report they had:

·         Drownings – 1

·         Boating Under the Influence (BUI) – 18

·         Boating Incidents – 6

·         Boating Incident-related Injuries – 1

·         Boating Incident-related Fatalities – 2

·         Alcohol Involved – 0

The dates of these incident were from Aug. 31-Sept. 2, 2013.

WSBTV