Lee Erwin Reporting
lerwin@clarksvillenow.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Colonel Tracy Trott, Commander of the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) was the guest speaker at the Clarksville Rotary Club weekly meeting Wednesday, February 4. Trott talked about the highway patrol and their many aspects of law enforcement across the state.
In an effort to help lower fatal traffic crashes, Trott said local law enforcement agencies electronically report information on vehicle crashes to THP. That information is analyzed and THP then works on preventing fatalities and injuries in vehicle crashes.
That computer data is also provided to local agencies in an effort to assist them with lowering vehicle crashes. The THP can also try to predict where serious crashes and fatality wrecks will happen in four-hour increments.
“Our field commanders can take that information and assign personnel to certain areas and certain counties and use it to development enforcement plans to prevent more fatality crashes,” Trott said. Trott added that THP was the first state police agency to take a predictive analytic software program and apply it to traffic safety.
Cracking down on drunk drivers is a top priority for Troopers. In 2010 when Trott took over as head of the THP he said there were 3,300 DUI arrests and in 2014 that figure had risen to 8,400 which has lowered alcohol related fatality crashes. The same computer data system and statistics utilized to help predict traffic crashes is also being used to locate impaired drivers.
Seat belt use among drivers is another top safety priority. Trott said when it comes to seat belt enforcement, as you increase the usage rate you drive down the fatality rate. Plans are for state lawmakers to propose a bill in the legislature this year to raise the fine for not wearing seat belts.
Trott emphasized that a fine increase would not make money for the THP but it would raise seat belt use and help decrease traffic fatalities. He also said sometimes they write a ticket for the same driver two or three times as many people keep violating the seat belt law over and over again.