Published: July 01, 2008 06:21 pm         

Governor’s Highway Safety Office announces Safe 70 enforcement mobilization launch

Concentrated enforcement effort on Hwy. 70 begins July 3

Law enforcement agencies across the state including Cumberland County will launch a high visibility enforcement mobilization along State Route 70 on July 3 preceding the holiday weekend. This is the largest concentration of enforcement ever given to a single highway in Tennessee.

State Route 70 runs from the Tennessee/North Carolina border to the state line of Mississippi in Memphis. The roadway is one of only two state routes that run the entire length of the state and most of it is rural.

“Rural fatalities in Tennessee have increased in recent years and we are committed to getting those stats down,” stated Kendell Poole, director of the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office (GHSO). “70 percent of all total traffic fatalities occur in the rural areas.”

The disparity between rural and urban fatalities is obvious if you compare the State Route 70 counties of Putnam and Shelby. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported the 2006 fatality rate per 100,000 population in Shelby County as 13.28 percent while it was 39.54 percent in Putnam County. In addition, the last report of overall economic impact of motor vehicle crashes in Tennessee was $4.628 billion. Rural taxpayers should ask themselves who is paying the larger portion of the expense.

GHSO Liaison Clint Shrum said, “The focus of Safe 70 is aggressive and impaired drivers. This event is for the sole purpose of saving lives and not about how many tickets these agencies can write.”

The enforcement will begin at 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 3, and run for 12 hours. Safe 70 kicks off the state impaired driving mobilization that runs through July 12.

Agencies involved in the Safe 70 Enforcement Mobilization effort include:

East Tennessee Region – Cocke, Jefferson, Knox, and Roane County Sheriff Offices; Newport, Dandridge, Knoxville, Kingston, and Rockwood Police Departments; University of Tennessee Campus Police; Tennessee High Patrol Fall Branch and Knoxville Districts

Cumberland Region – Cumberland, Putnam, White, Warren, Cannon, DeKalb and Smith County Sheriff Offices; Crossville, Cookeville, Monterey, Baxter, Sparta, McMinnville, Woodbury, Smithville and Carthage Police Departments; Tennessee Highway Patrol District

Middle Tennessee Region – Waverly, McEwen, Dickson, White Bluff, Belle Meade, Metro Nashville, Mt. Juliet, and Lebanon Police Departments

West Tennessee Region – Shelby, Fayette, Tipton, Haywood, Madison, Carroll, and Benton County Sheriff Offices; Memphis, Bartlett, Mason, Brownsville, Jackson, Huntingdon, Bruceton, Hollow Rock and Camden Police Departments