Ive worked in LE in GA for a long time and have worked with troopers and know many. The first problem with coverage is that there arent enough troopers to for the brass to even think about having 24 hour coverage except in a few areas. (hell there are still counties in GA where 1 single deputy patrols the entire county alone at night )
The fact remains that most of GA is very rural and most of the traffic in those areas is during day and early evening. You might have 1 troopers covering 5 counties alone at night or on call.
In most of GA, troopers still work ALL traffic crashes for the sheriff's dept's.
Over the past few years due to state budget cuts the brass has had to furlough troopers without pay, cut or eliminate overtime, and drastically cut fuel consumption. They have a policy in many areas that troopers are to no longer patrol their entire shift but spend several hours in a stationary mode using laser or radar.
GSP brass recently got rid of about 70 communications positions and consolidated their comms centers, which was a great cost saving move.
In genera,l over most of GA, each post has about 12 to 15 troopers. ALL of them patrol and work including the post commander who is a staff sgt. I know many of them and they make DUI's, arrests, work traffic crashes just like their troopers do. GSP is stretched as thin as it can given the size and population of this state. If you want more troopers then you need to fund the agency. GSP has less than 950 troopers statewide right now not including the MCCD which is primarily federal funded for their commercial vehicle enforcement details.
GSP traditionally has maintained little or no coverage of many metro Atlanta areas like Gwinnett or Cobb because their have plenty of police and traffic units. In many other states they have duplicate coverage between state and local. GSP does have a presence in Atlanta and they handle most if not all wrecks on the interstates within Atlanta city limits, something new as of a few years ago. GSP also now handles a lot of high risk traffic stops for drug units, including DEA and HIDTA in metro Atlanta (one of their troopers was murdered doing such a stop recently). The feds partially fund this also.
The audit makes some decent points but it fails to examine the situation on the ground. One thing GSP has going for it is its low attrition rate. Most troopers stay with the agency for many years. This saves a ton of money for the state. Florida on the other hand has to spend tens of millions on recruiting and training rookie troopers and trying to keep them on the force only to see them leave for local agencies after a few years. If GSP had this problem the coverage would be horrible compared to how it is now. As with any agency there can always be improvements, but to say GSP isnt doing a good job with the thin funding it has, would be a mistake in my opinion.
