COWETA COUNTY, Ga. -- Residents are under a curfew Wednesday night. It's from 5PM until 10AM tomorrow.
The city of Newnan and Coweta County says they've made this decision based on the road conditions that are icy and slick. There have already been numerous calls about car accidents coming in the 911 center.
If you are unnecessarily on the road, you could get a fine of up to $1,000 or 60 days in jail. There are exceptions. Emergency crews, people headed to work, other valid reasons.
The county's website reads:
"The curfew does NOT affect individuals engaged in the provision of designated, essential services, such as fire, law enforcement, emergency medical services and hospital services, military services, utility emergency repairs...regular employees of local industries traveling to and from their jobs with appropriate identification, news media employees, building and repair contractors, properly registered, performing activities related to construction, repair, renovation or improvement of buildings and other structures damaged during the disaster or emergency."
The 11Alive crew witnessed trucks passing by going at normal speed which is discouraged because at any moment, you could drive through black ice and run into a problem. They saw several cars stuck in ditches, on the side of the road because they could not handle the ice.
January snow in Georgia
This is why the sheriff's office and county officials are establishing he curfew, so no one ends up getting injured as ice continues to be a problem overnight.
Lt Coronel Lynn Wood with the sheriff's office said, "Just stay off the roads. Please stay off the roads. I know we'll be enacting a curfew tonight later this afternoon to try to tell folks they don't need to be on the roads."
County Administrator Michael Fouts said "We're trying to treat the roads but there's a lot of shady roads in the area that still have a lot of ice... so we're asking everyone to please refrain from getting on the road as much as possible. To maintain resources for emergency only."
Coweta County Schools will remain closed for Thursday because of the weather.
