Police step up safety efforts
Reckless and distracted drivers should beware: the Chattanooga Police Department is looking to end dangerous driving by ramping up its patrol of the city’s roadways.
Police announced Wednesday a new effort to address fatal and incapacitating wrecks by targeting intersections and streets that experience a disproportionately high number of crashes.
Starting immediately, patrolling officers now will give a higher priority to those high-risk areas, looking for drivers who are speeding, following too closely and texting, among other things.
Dangerous hotspots were identified by the police department’s Traffic Division, which accumulated crash and traffic data over several months. The plan was then tested in some portions of the city, and authorities had a marked increase in ticketed offenses during that period.
The hope is that by targeting risky areas suffering from poor visibility and frequent dangerous driving, the city may be able to cut into the 14,912 crashes that occurred last year. Of those crashes,
2,036 resulted in injuries.
After just the first two months in 2016, there were 2,396 crashes in the city, 395 of which resulted in injuries.
Those numbers put Chattanooga on pace to match or surpass last year’s totals, especially since authorities fully expect incidents to increase as the weather warms up.
“We have more people harmed while driving every single year than we do in comparison to any other crime,” Lt. David Gibb said. “We are taking this risk very seriously; we just want people to slow down and drive defensively.”
He said, “In every sector of the city, you’re going to see blue lights.”
The Tennessee Highway Patrol also put out a statement Wednesday as a “Call to Action Traffic Safety Video” asking motorists to be safe and call the authorities when they see dangerous driving. Col. Tracy Trott said more than 2 people die daily on Tennessee’s roadways and that will likely increase to nearly three people a day this summer.
“We simply cannot detect or arrest every impaired and reckless driver, nor can we stop every speeder or person not wearing a seat belt,” Trott said. “It is up to you to make the safe choice every time you get behind the wheel.”
He asked, “What is the last thing you want to hold in your hand, your cellphone or your family?”
Contact staff writer Emmett Gienapp at egienapp@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731.