Driving after the Pandemic

JACKSON, TN (WNBJ)-

After the pandemic reduced traffic stops, officers are now back to normal traffic stops and are being met with an increase in speeding vehicles and aggressive driving.

“The pandemic has adverse effects on everything we were doing as far as law enforcement, especially traffic enforcement. We had to reduce our contact with the general public, so we kind of took a step back as far as traffic enforcement. Now that we’re back full steam ahead as far as traffic enforcement, we have seen that there’s a lot of speeding going on, excessive speeding,” says Sergeant Richard King.

The sheriff's department says that high speeds are often a factor in crashes and fatalities. The sheriff says that they need the communities support to keep the streets safe.

“It's time for people if they see something report it. Call in and say here’s what I just saw and report those vehicles…if you’re stopped and you can snap a picture of the vehicle and the tag number report it to your law enforcement agency and let them know what you just witnessed,” says Sheriff John Mehr.

The Madison county sheriffs’ department has seen fatals decrease compared to last year because they have cracked down on speeding. District eight, the district that Jackson is in has seen nineteen fewer deaths compared to this time last year, but even one death is too many. The sheriff urges everyone to drive safely.

“Please slow down! You know you may end up having a wreck, you may kill someone, is it worth going to jail over? If you are at fault, because you were really doing something stupid… please just think, let's make this a safe community,” says Sheriff John Mehr.

When you speed or drive recklessly you arent just endangering yourself, you're endangering everyone else on the roads.