Sheriff’s Department announces enforcement partnerships to reduce traffic fatalities

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department and local law enforcement agencies have announced a partnership designed to reduce traffic fatalities in East Tennessee.

In a Friday press conference at the Knoxville office of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Steve Dillard, East Tennessee Law Enforcement Liaison Officer for the Governor’s Highway Safety Office, reported an increase in fatalities last year in four East Tennessee counties: Anderson, Blount, Campbell, and Sevier. During the last five years, Anderson County alone has averaged 11 fatal crashes per year, with 13 fatal crashes in 2012, a press release said.

In response, Dillard and GHSO Director Kendall Poole outlined traffic safety activities for the next six months in the four counties. Authorities will focus on impaired and distracted drivers, and those violating speed limit and seatbelt laws.

In Anderson County, the Sheriff’s Department will work with GHSO, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Clinton Police Department, Lake City Police Department, Norris Police Department, Oak Ridge Police Department, and Oliver Springs Police Department to step up traffic safety efforts to reduce the number of fatalities, a press release said. The agencies will be conducting saturation patrols, sobriety checkpoints, seatbelt checkpoints, and selective traffic enforcement operations during the next six months.

During this traffic safety campaign, all departments will increase the number of officers working the streets during peak traffic hours. The Sheriff’s Department will also partner with GHSO to conduct specialty training in various traffic-related areas to better equip officers, the press release said.

The traffic safety campaign is supported by a grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Governor’s Highway Safety Office.

For more information about traffic safety, visit www.TrafficSafetyMarketing.gov.