Tennessee State Troopers Beef up Patrols for Cinco de Mayo
Wednesday, May 04, 2011 | 09:34am
NASHVILLE –- The Tennessee Highway Patrol would like to remind everyone to buckle up, drive safely and act responsibly during this year’s Cinco de Mayo festivities. With the ongoing recovery effort of last week’s storms and tornadoes across the state, coupled with rising waters in the western region of Tennessee, State Troopers are committed more than ever to prevent any additional loss of life on the roadways.
“Recently, many Tennesseans have been affected by events we had no control over – Mother Nature,” said Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons. “We are now utilizing our resources to do what we can control, which is to ensure motorists are obeying traffic laws and wearing seat belts, and most importantly, they are not driving impaired. Please, do us all a favor and celebrate responsibly this weekend.”
The 24-hour 2011 Cinco de Mayo holiday period begins at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, May 5 and ends that same day at midnight (May 5). During last year’s Cinco de Mayo, four people were killed in four fatal crashes on Tennessee roadways. Of those four individuals killed, three were not wearing safety restraints and none of the fatalities occurred in alcohol-related crashes. In 2008, three people were killed on state roadways during the 30-hour Cinco de Mayo holiday.
“With all that has happened over the last few days in Tennessee, we want people to have something to celebrate,” said THP Colonel Tracy Trott. “We simply ask that you do it responsibly. If we catch you out drinking and driving, we will have no sympathy – you will be arrested. No exceptions, no excuses.”
Throughout the state in 2009, 303 people were killed in crashes where the driver or motorcyclist had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher. That is down from 306 people killed in 2008 with a BAC of .08 or higher. As of May 4, 2011, preliminary figures show that 252 people have been killed in Tennessee traffic crashes, compared to 322 at this same time last year. Of the 196 vehicle occupants killed this year, 53 percent were not wearing seatbelts.
“Just over a week ago, during the Easter Holiday, nine vehicle occupants were killed in traffic crashes,” added Colonel Trott. “Four of them were not wearing safety restraints and among them a child was killed because she was not secured in a child restraint device. This tragedy may have easily been prevented had these people been buckled up. We can’t stress this enough – seat belts save lives.”
A list of Cinco de Mayo safety tips are listed below:
- Plan Ahead. If you plan to drink, arrange a safe way home before the festivities begin.
- Before drinking, designate a sober driver and give that person your keys.
- If you’re impaired, call a taxi, use public transportation, or call a sober friend or family member to get you home safely.
- Use the local Sober Ride program.
- If you see a drunk driver on the road, promptly contact your local law enforcement agency (Dial *THP)
- Remember, Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk. If you or someone you know is about to ride with one that is impaired, take their keys and help them make other arrangements to get to their destination safely.
As part of the Cinco de Mayo public safety awareness and enforcement campaign, the THP has scheduled saturations and sobriety checkpoints in high volume and high crash corridors across the state to look for aggressive and impaired drivers as well as safety belt violators. A listing of said checkpoints is included with this release, and statistics for the 2010 Cinco de Mayo holiday period are attached.
TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF SAFETY & HOMELAND SECURITY DRIVER LICENSE & SOBRIETY CHECKPOINTS
DIST. 1 KNOXVILLE Thursday, May 5: Checkpoint County Road/Highway Time of Day DL CHECKPOINT CAMPBELL STATE ROUTE 63 @ OLD STATE ROUTE 63 LATE MORNING DL CHECKPOINT LOUDON HWY 444 NEAR CLEAR CREEK BOAT RAMP EVENING SOBRIETY MONROE US 411S @ ISBELL ROAD EVENING
Friday, May 6: DL CHECKPOINT CAMPBELL MAIN ST. IN JACKSBORO @ CHURCH OF CHRIST LATE MORNING DL CHECKPOINT KNOX STATE ROUTE 61E OF WASHINGTON PIKE MORNING DL CHECKPOINT ROANE HWY 58 NEAR NEW BRIDGE MORNING DL CHECKPOINT SCOTT STATE ROUTE 63 @ BAKER STREET EVENING DL CHECKPOINT SEVIER STATE ROUTE 139 @ AMANDA LANE AFTERNOON DL CHECKPOINT UNION STATE ROUTE 61 @ TAZEWELL PIKE EVENING SOBRIETY MONROE STATE ROUTE 68 @ STATE ROUTE 39 MECCA PIKE EVENING
Saturday, May 7: DL CHECKPOINT ANDERSON STATE ROUTE 170 @ OZELLA LANE EVENING DL CHECKPOINT CAMPBELL STATE ROUTE 297 @ CREEKMORE/HOUSLEY LATE MORNING
DIST. 2 CHATTANOOGA
Thursday, May 5: Checkpoint County Road/Highway Time of Day DL CHECKPOINT SEQUATCHIE OLD YORK HWY @ EAST VALLEY ROAD AFTERNOON
Friday, May 6: DL CHECKPOINT HAMILTON KELLY STREET @ EAST 20TH AFTERNOON DL CHECKPOINT POLK US 411 SOUTH OF BENTON CITY LATE EVENING DL CHECKPOINT RHEA TOE STRING RD @ MUDDY CREEK RD EVENING DL CHECKPOINT GRUNDY 20TH STREET @ DOGTOWN EVENING
DIST. 3 NASHVILLE
Thursday, May 5: Checkpoint County Road/Highway Time of Day DL CHECKPOINT HOUSTON HWY 49 NEAR GREEN SHANTY RD AFTERNOON DL CHECKPOINT HUMPHREYS HWY 13 S @ WILDWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST MORNING
Friday, May 6: DL CHECKPOINT DAVIDSON HWY 100 @ NATCHEZ TRACE EVENING DL CHECKPOINT HOUSTON HWY 147 @ HWY 232 MORNING DL CHECKPOINT MONTGOMERY OLD HWY 48 @ SOUTHSIDE RD EVENING DL CHECKPOINT SUMNER HWY 31E @ ROUNDTREE RD MORNING DL CHECKPOINT WILLIAMSON GOOSE CREEK BYPASS MORNING
DIST. 4 MEMPHIS
Thursday, May 5: Checkpoint County Road/Highway Time of Day DL CHECKPOINT LAUDERDALE STATE ROUTE 19 E/O HYDE ROAD AFTERNOON
DIST. 5 FALL BRANCH
Friday, May 6: Checkpoint County Road/Highway Time of Day DL CHECKPOINT GREENE STATE ROUTE 70 @ SOUTH GREENE FIRE DEPT. EVENING DL CHECKPOINT GREENE STATE ROUTE 70 @ GREEN LAWN MEMORY EVENING DL CHECKPOINT UNICOI UNICOI DRIVE @ GOLF COURSE MORNING SOBRIETY GREENE STATE ROUTE 172 @ OLD BURKMAN FEED EVENING
DIST. 6 COOKEVILLE
Thursday, May 5: Saturation County Road/Highway Time of Day SATURATION PUTNAM US 70N EVENING SATURATION FENTRESS US 127 EVENING SATURATION OVERTON STATE ROUTE 111 EVENING SATURATION MACON STATE ROUTE 52 EVENING SATURATION JACKSON STATE ROUTE 56 EVENING SATURATION CUMBERLAND US 70N EVENING SATURATION DEKALB STATE ROUTE 56 EVENING SATURATION WARREN STATE ROUTE 8 EVENING
DIST. 7 LAWRENCEBURG
Friday, May 6:
Checkpoint County Road/Highway Time of Day
DL CHECKPOINT PERRY HWY 13N @ 29 MM AFTERNOON
DL CHECKPOINT HICKMAN HWY 50W .7 MILES E OF NICKELLS VALLEY AFTERNOON
DL CHECKPOINT LINCOLN HWY 275 @ 4.5 MM MORNING
DL CHECKPOINT MAURY TOM HITCH .6 MILES S OF 412 LATE EVENING
DIST. 8 JACKSON Thursday, May 5:
Checkpoint County Road/Highway Time of Day DL CHECKPOINT CARROLL US 79 @ NEW ZION RD AFTERNOON DL CHECKPOINT HENRY STATE ROUTE 119 @ KY STATE LINE EVENING SOBRIETY MCNAIRY HWY 224 @ OLD STAGE RD LATE EVENING Friday, May 6:
Checkpoint County Road/Highway Time of Day SOBRIETY MADISON US 70W @ HUNTERSVILLE EVENING DL CHECKPOINT GIBSON US 45 BYPASS TRENTON EVENING DL CHECKPOINT BENTON US 641 @ LOWER SANDY RIVER RD EVENING