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Staff Photo by Allison Carter/Chattanooga Times Free Press - Sep 2, 2010 - On Thursday afternoon Trooper Danny Viar talks to Ron Vickers, driver for Deep South Freight, about the 55 mile an hour speed limit for trucks on I-24. This Labor Day weekend the Tennessee Highway Patrol will be out in full force taking radar on area roads.
Travel is expected to be up by 10 percent across the country this holiday weekend compared to last year, and local and state law enforcement want to be at the end of every bend in the road and at the bottom of every hill.
Georgia and Tennessee troopers will conclude their 100 Days of Summer Heat campaign this weekend, so state troopers and local officers already are out on the roads in increased numbers.
Come this Labor Day weekend, when summer travel peaks for the final time, there will be more cruisers on the highways and more sobriety checkpoints, police say.
The AAA travel service expects 34.4 million travelers this year, compared to 31.3 million in 2009.
Authorities say nine people died on Tennessee roads over the 2009 Labor Day, compared to 12 in 2008. In Georgia, the 2009 Labor Day holiday saw 15 traffic deaths and 867 injuries, according to the Georgia State Patrol.
Tennessee troopers will participate in seven sobriety checkpoints in the Chattanooga area from Friday through Monday, though authorities won’t say where those will be held.
“Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes,” Tennessee Department of Safety Commissioner Dave Mitchell said. “The THP will be vigilant in protecting our roadways from the careless decisions of those who choose to put Tennesseans in harm’s way.”
The same message is coming from Georgia law enforcement.
“Statistics show that one out of four traffic crash fatalities are caused by an impaired driver,” said Dalton police Chief Jason Parker. “They also show that drivers with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 grams or higher are 11 times more likely to die in a crash than if involved in that same crash while they were sober.”
Chattanooga, Cleveland, Red Bank and East Ridge police officials say they will have extra officers on the road this weekend, but there are no plans for special checkpoints.
But Georgia and Tennessee officers will conduct several “hands across the border” joint checkpoints over the holiday weekend, THP spokesman Mike Browning said.
On top of checking for sobriety, there will be more officers looking for speeders and reckless drivers. Chief Parker said motorists can avoid run-ins with police if they simply “buckle up, slow down and drive sober.”
Adam Crisp covers education issues for the Times Free Press. He joined the paper's staff in 2007 and initially covered crime, public safety, courts and general assignment topics. Prior to Chattanooga, Crisp was a crime reporter at the Savannah Morning News and has been a reporter and editor at community newspapers in southeast Georgia. In college, he led his student paper to a first-place general excellence award from the Georgia College Press Association. He earned ...
What a crock of Boston Baked Beans, it's got nothing to do with safety and everything to do with money. Not a one of the stone faced power trippers with a badge cares about the safety of anyone, only the cheap thrill they cet from control.
These are rough times, the economy has causes a lot of problems especially for government to obtain fast dollars.
Giving speeding tickets, catching a few DUI's and finding a few seatbelts unbuckled is often used as a method for obtaining a few dollars along the way.
Remember Labor Day does bring out the travelers and the Cops are on the prowl to get what they can in the process.
That includes giving tickets. A few will swap $$$ for the tickets. Both sides will cuss and complain about the results and the reasons.
Have a safe Labor Day Weekend, stay home and work on a plan to keep the $$$ for yourself!
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