I-65 enforcement operation due to increase in serious injury, deadly crashes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Highway Safety Office and other Middle Tennessee law enforcement agencies joined together to promote safety on I-65 in response to high injury and death rates, specifically on Sundays.
The Williamson County Sheriff’s office told FOX 17 News, it’s called Operation Impact 65, marking March 6 the 65th day of the year.
A spokesperson with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office said the focus was on the main contributing factors for crashes and injuries along I-65 which includes: impaired, aggressive, and distracted driving, excessive speeding, following too close and unbelted motorists.
The department said based on data collected from Tennessee’s Department of Transportation, it showed fatal crashes and serious injuries are on the rise for Sunday drivers.
WCSO said in 2021, on I-65 alone there were 17 fatal crashes and 932 injury crashes.
FOX 17 News’ Payton Muse asked Greg Wilhelm, Corporal for WSCO’s traffic unit, why Sunday may be the most dangerous day of the week to drive.
Wilhelm said adding the drivers that either coming or leaving from out of state and that’s what he saw on Sunday.
“When you add that traffic on top of local traffic, that just creates more of a problem for people who aren't familiar and we can even go so far as to say there's been a lot of folks that are having to look at their GPS while they're driving, So they're distracted,” he said.
Nashville residents have mixed feelings about the initiative, one said seeing cops on the road may make things worse.
“I feel like it kind of stresses people out and might cause people to slow down,” Emma Espy, north Nashville resident said.
“But at the same time, it kind of calls it the like bottleneck effect where everyone's like slamming on the brakes and slowing down and kind of causes more problems sometimes.”
Another resident said people need be careful because the repercussions aren’t worth it.
“I think that the people just need to slow down and just be courteous of others. keep traffic flowing, you know, less riding the brakes. Just go to where you got to go leave home early is you got too,” said Donn Pendergrass, east Nashville resident.
The sheriff’s office said they want everyone to be safe, slow down on the highway, and try to limit distractions.
