Oak Ridge Today

Sheriff’s Department, Highway Safety Office increase impaired-driving enforcement during holidays

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To promote traffic safety and help save lives this holiday season, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is partnering with the Tennessee Highway Safety Office to increase impaired-driving enforcement during the holiday season, a press release said.

The THSO’s statewide Booze It and Lose It campaign is part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over nationwide mobilization, the press release said.

There are these simple steps people can take to stay safe and out of trouble: [Read more…]

DA: Anderson County had biggest reduction in state in traffic fatalities in 2015

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Dave Clark

Dave Clark

Anderson County had the greatest reduction in traffic fatalities of any county in Tennessee in 2015, an official said Friday.

In 2014, there were 18 traffic fatalities in Anderson County, District Attorney General Dave Clark said. In 2015, that number dropped to seven, according to statistics maintained by the Tennessee Department of Safety.

“That difference of 11 fewer deaths in Anderson County was the greatest reduction of any Tennessee county,” Clark said.

“The traffic fatality improvements this past year represent 11 people who did not die on our roadways and 11 groups of friends and families who are not grieving this year,” Clark said. “We see the human cost of the deaths on our highways and the utter despair and shock of a family that has suddenly lost someone as the result of a traffic fatality. Therefore, I am particularly pleased with this accomplishment and what it has meant to our community. [Read more…]

Sheriff’s Department receives Governor’s Highway Safety Grant for fifth year

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Sheriff Paul White announced Tuesday that the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department has been awarded a traffic safety grant for the fifth year.

The grant award of $40,000 from the Governor’s Highway Safety Office will support the traffic safety program “Reducing Fatalities In Anderson County,” a press release said. The grant will increase efforts to reduce fatalities through enforcement of laws governing driving under the influence and impaired driving, as well as seatbelt enforcement. [Read more…]

With holiday approaching, Anderson DA reminds residents not to drink and drive

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Dave Clark

Dave Clark

The Labor Day holiday is this weekend, and Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark is reminding people to not drive under the influence.

Citing statistics that indicate that nearly one out of every three traffic deaths in America occur in impaired-driving crashes, Clark in a press release said all of the county’s municipal police departments and Anderson County Sheriff’s Office are taking part in a high-visibility enforcement campaign aimed at reducing impaired driving fatalities and serious injury crashes. If you are driving under the influence, the minimum penalty in Tennessee includes 48 hours behind bars, a one-year suspension of your driver’s license and a $350 fine—plus the other severe financial consequences such as rising insurance rates, attorney fees and court costs, lost time at work, as well as potential job loss and the personal and professional embarrassment, Clark said. [Read more…]

Suspected DUI drivers must give blood, breath sample

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Dave Clark

Dave Clark

A new law that allows law enforcement to require a driver suspected of drunk or impaired driving to give a blood sample is being enforced in Anderson County from Tuesday, July 3 through Sunday, July 8, District Attorney General Dave Clark announced Monday.

Clark said it is Tennessee’s first operation to implement the new law and will involve saturation patrols, roadblocks and other special law enforcement actions.

[Read more…]