The Campus Police Department of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is partnering with the Tennessee Highway Safety Office to educate and enforce traffic safety and speeding prevention in the “Slow Down Tennessee” campaign until April 28.
To decrease speed-related crashes and help raise awareness of dangerous driving, the UTHSC Campus Police Department will be patrolling throughout the Medical District, issuing citations, and giving educational literature on traffic safety to speeding drivers. The UTHSC Campus Police are also advising drivers and children to wear the proper restraints while traveling, and for pedestrians crossing the street to use the pedestrian crossing signal and allow vehicles time to stop before crossing.
“The main thing is to bring not only enforcement but also educational awareness to the motorists who are traveling throughout the Medical District area, and encourage them to follow safety guidelines such as wearing seatbelts and avoid using cellphones,” said UTHSC Campus Police Lieutenant Celia Tisby. “We are focusing on motorists to slow down in an effort to reduce our fatality numbers and injuries in crashes.”
The Tennessee Highway Safety Office is a division of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, advocating for traffic safety. The THSO also works in conjunction with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to implement statewide programs addressing occupant protection, impaired driving, speed enforcement, pedestrian and bicycle safety, and crash data and analysis. According to the THSO, 36,870 speed-related crashes have occurred statewide from 2018 to 2022.
For more information about “Slow Down Tennessee”, please visit tntrafficsafety.org/speeding.