A good example of how state and local governments can work together to prevent highway traffic injuries and deaths is the recent grant from the Governor’s Highway Safety Office that will pay for four mobile radar units for the Obion County Sheriff’s Department.  Of the department’s 12 cars, eight already have radar, thanks to the same grant, which the department has received the previous two years.

WBBJ TV in Jackson Tennessee reported on the grant and quoted Chief Deputy Kent Treece as saying, “As big as the county is, and as many calls as we get, traffic enforcement has never been a real big priority for the Sheriff’s Office. As the population has grown”, Treece said “traffic enforcement has been a growing concern for the department, but not because of revenue but because traffic enforcement is a simple issue of safety. The secondary roads in Obion County are somewhere in the vicinity of 700 miles, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff’s Department, and without proper tools, it makes traffic enforcement very difficult,” Treece said in the article.He also pointed out that probable cause stops based on speeding will lead into DUI, drug and other arrests, which in turn, they believe, will make the county safer.

According to the Federal Highway Administration local highway agencies often do not have the resources needed to adequately address safety problems on the roads they maintain. The FHWA Local and Rural Safety Program provides national and state  leadership in identifying, developing, and delivering safety programs and products to local governments to improve highway safety on local and rural roads.

Rural Road Safety Facts

Rural road safety is a particular concern, because the majority of highway fatalities take place on rural roads. Rural roads account for approximately 40 percent of the vehicle miles traveled in the U.S., but almost 57 percent of fatalities. According to recent data, 23,260 people were killed in rural crashes in 2007 and the fatality rate for rural crashes is more than twice the fatality rate in urban crashes.

In 2007, there were 37,248 fatal crashes resulting in 41,059 deaths. Where land use was known, rural areas accounted for 56 percent (20,347) of the fatal crashes and 57 percent (22,866) of the fatalities as compared to urban areas which accounted for 44 percent (16,251) of the fatal crashes and 43 percent (17,497) of the fatalities.

According to recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, people killed in speeding-related crashes represented almost one-third (13,040) of the fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes.  NHTSA considers a crash to be speeding related if the driver was charged with a speed-related offense or if an officer indicated that racing, driving too fast for conditions, or exceeding the posted speed limit was a contributing factor in the crash. In rural areas, 33 percent (7,509) of the fatalities occurred in speeding-related crashes as compared to 31 percent (5,372) in urban areas. It appears that this grant will allow

Reduce Speed Related Deaths

the department to step up speed enforcement and save lives and reduce injuries in Obion County.

If you or a loved one is injured in a loved one is injured in a Nashville automobile accident involving a speeding driver, contact the experienced Nashville car crash attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights. If you have been involved in a Nashville car crash and are thinking of handling the negotiations with the other person’s insurance adjuster on your own, you owe it to yourself to at least check out our web page and our free publications before you make a serious mistake.