Tennessee Highway Safety Office campaigns to reduce distracted driving

MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — Local law enforcement are launching a campaign in the hopes of raising awareness to reduce distracted driving incidents. It’s called “Operation Incognito,” a statewide distracted driving enforcement and education initiative that began last year.

“People still believe that they can drive distracted and everything is going to be OK, that they’re not going to harm anybody, they’re not going to harm themselves,” said Karla Lipford, law enforcement liaison for the Tennessee Highway Safety Office.

Law enforcement across the state have taken part in this campaign to not only combat distracted driving, but also other bad driving habits.

The THSO and the Madison County Sheriff’s Office are working together to spot distracted drivers.

“We’re in a bus and we’re able to see a little bit better than they are in their squad cars,” Lipford said. “We would actually spot out to them to let them know which person, which driver is driving distracted.”

According to the THSO, reports of distracted driving have gone down last year, but they say campaigns like these help ensure that these numbers continue to go down. Distracted driving can include eating while driving or talking on phones.

“In Madison County, we found that there was 421 distracted driving crashes,” Lipford said. “It’s a little decrease from 2017, where they had 443.”

The overall goal is to reduce the number of serious injuries and fatalities from crashes each year.

The campaign is also helping bring awareness about driving in construction zones as part of “National Work Zone Awareness Week” this week.