The Tennessee Highway Patrol met with the Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner to talk about ways to reduce traffic deaths across the state.
Commissioner Bill Gibbons spoke with members at the district headquarters in Knoxville to talk about priorities and initiatives to curb deaths. Gibbons said five of the six last years saw the lowest number of traffic deaths in the state, but that number is on the rise again this year.
Last year, the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security reported 491 deaths on the road. This year, that number is already up to 549 and counting.
"Traffic fatalities are up again this year, and I think there are a number of reasons for that. But when you look at the overall trend over the last five years, I'm very encouraged," Gibbons said. "We very intentionally focused on that as one of our major goals, so I think it really shows that proactive data-driven policing works."
The meeting focused, in part, on finding ways to reduce unnecessary road deaths by enforcing seatbelt use and catching people driving under the influence. Gibbons said the biggest troopers will be focusing on preventing is distracted driving.
"Distracted driving is especially a problem among younger drivers," Gibbons said. "One thing we talked to the troopers about today is kind of moving forward the need to focus on distracted driving, in particular, through our enforcement efforts and our educational efforts."
One of the other priorities brought up at the meeting was trooper safety in light of weeks of violence against law enforcement. THP Colonel Tracy Trott said troopers of all ranks and seniority are being told to remain vigilant.
"When you do this job for a number of years, you stop car after car, you arrest people on a regular basis, you interact with citizens... you can become complacent. That's the enemy of safety," Trott said. "We just remind troopers there are steps you need to take and you need to have a plan of any action you are taking."
"Obviously, we are in an atmosphere where there is, for obvious reasons, some apprehension to law enforcement officers," Gibbons said. " Every time a state trooper, or Knoxville police officer, or deputy sheriff of Knox County gets out of his or her patrol car and approaches someone, there is a certain degree of apprehension."
Gibbons said he doesn't think the negative sentiment to law enforcement is wide-spread, adding he's seen an outpouring of support in recent weeks.
"I think this anti-law enforcement sentiment is very limited, it represents a very small portion of our population," Gibbons said. "What our troopers have seen, and I think it's very true for Knoxville Police and Knox County sheriff's deputies, too, is really an outpouring of public support."
