On Monday, April 21, the Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO) held a press conference announcing the development of the Hamilton County Traffic Task Force.
Its initiative is to reduce traffic crashes and fatalities in Hamilton County. The task force, established earlier this year, held its first meeting in January to plan collaborative initiatives focused on combatting dangerous driving behaviors.
THSO Senior Law Enforcement Liaison Steve Dillard said the task force is looking at ways to help the community, involve all the local law enforcement agencies, and to look at ways to combat dangerous driving behavior.
“Because we know a lot of the issues we're seeing out here on our highways is risky behavior,” he said. “We’re trying to bring attention to our drivers for them to understand that we are serious about making Hamilton County a safe place for people to drive.”
Tennessee Highway Patrol Captain Patrick Turner said that despite recent attempts to educate the public about the harsh realities of fatal crashes and injuries residents are still being killed in crashes at an alarming rate.
“The main contributing factors of these injury and fatal crashes continue to be operators driving distracted, impaired, or choosing to drive at unsafe speeds and not using restraint devices,” he said. “Anyone who still chooses to violate the law can and will be stopped by law enforcement and educated roadside on the dangers of their choices. This Task Force is another effort to bring awareness to these serious issues and hopefully save lives. At the end of the day, we want you to arrive at your destination safely.”
He urged the public to dial *THP to report unsafe driving behavior.
Hamilton County Sheriff Austin Garrett said the public is part of the task force as law enforcement officers rely on the public to provide them with the data and information needed to help the task force in implementing new ideas for roadway and pedestrian safety.
He also said every life is precious and there is nothing worse than having to let a family member know their loved one is never coming home again due to a fatal crash.
“There is no such thing as an accident,” he said. “Everything is a crash because they all have a cause.”
Chattanooga Police Chief John Chambers said the city’s crime intelligence analysis unit start collecting more data on serios crashes.
“We'll be using this data to ensure that we have the greatest impact on driver behavior. These efforts are producing results,” he said. “Between 2023 and 2024, which I think saw a 24 % decrease in total crashes. That is also more than half reduction of fatal crashes, which is phenomenal. And during the same time period, pedestrians being struck also had dropped by 55%.”
Chambers said they are going to place 10 school speed zone traffic cameras out at various schools by the start of the next school year. He said the goal will be to have one at every school in the future.
He offered a simple reminder to wear seat belts for safety. He said their data shows that 90% of people in crashes were wearing seat belts but most victims of fatal crashes were not.
Jessica Holladay Vice President & Associate Chief Nursing Officer of Surgical & Trauma Services at Erlanger Hospital said the hospital staff see the harsh reality of severe and fatal crashes daily. She said the team treated 89 pedestrians struck by cars last year.
“The injuries can range from minor to severe cuts and even life threating injuries that may lead to paralysis or internal injuries to the liver, spleen and other vital organs,” she said.”
She cautioned drivers to slow down in areas of high foot traffic and urbans areas, check around your vehicle before backing up or pulling forward and stay focused on the roadways.
The task force will also be conducting community crosswalk talks. These talks helps the task force gather data from the public regarding whether they use crosswalks, or if more crosswalks are needed around the city.
Participating agencies of the Hamilton County Traffic Task Force include Tennessee Highway Patrol, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, Chattanooga Police Department, Chattanooga Department of Transportation, Soddy-Daisy Police Department, East Ridge Police Department, Collegedale Police Department, Lookout Mountain Police Department, Signal Mountain Police Department, Redbank Police Department, and Tennessee Department of Transportation, with support from Erlanger Health System and the THSO.