Oak Ridge Today

Sheriff’s Department announces enforcement partnerships to reduce traffic fatalities

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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. [Read more…]

Anderson County receives $40,000 state traffic safety grant

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The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department has been awarded a state traffic safety grant for the fourth year, Sheriff Paul White announced Monday.

The $40,000 grant from the Governor’s Highway Safety Office will support the county’s traffic safety program. It will provide overtime for officers trying to reduce injuries and fatalities by cracking down on seat belt violators and drivers operating vehicles while impaired or driving under the influence, a press release said.

[Read more…]