THP using data-driven enforcement for holiday
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JACKSON, Tenn. — With more than 750,000 Tennesseans hitting the road this holiday weekend, the Tennessee Highway Patrol is setting up patrol “hotspots” in areas they have found to be dangerous in the past. They say they are using history to help prevent future nightmares for drivers. “If we know there’s a better chance or greater chance where these things may be happening, that’s where we are going to be trying to focus our manpower,” said THP Lt. Brad Wilbanks. The THP believes numbers do not lie, and with AAA saying 90 percent of Tennesseans traveling over the July 4 weekend will be driving, troopers said they have come up with a way to keep more people safe.
Last year there were 12 fatal crashes in the state, four of those occurring in West Tennessee. “Obviously we can’t predict everything, but we don’t know where every drunk driver is going to be,” Wilbanks said. “We don’t know where every crash is going to occur, but this is just one more tool we can use in our toolbox to make the best use of the resources and manpower that we have.” Some local drivers think these patrol hotspots will help. “It can help because it controls people, keeps them from drinking and driving, you know, keeps them safe,” Cortez Keith said. Wilbanks said analyzing where DUI arrests, seat belt and driving violations, and wrecks involving serious injuries and deaths have occurred will determine where they’ll focus. “If you can tell me between Exit 83 and Exit 93 is where you have the most fatal crashes last year, obviously that’s where we want to focus our manpower,” Wilbanks said. In 2013, there were 19 traffic fatalities over the July 4 weekend. In 2014, that number dropped to 12, but Wilbanks is not satisfied with that number. “Twelve is still too many,” Wilbanks said. “What’s the perfect number for fatalities? Zero. Because that one may be you, may be me, a family member.” The increased patrols will start Friday at 12:01 a.m. and end Sunday night at midnight.
