Police beef up patrols

Red Bay Police Chief Pat Creel said Thanksgiving travelers will see a lot more officers on the roadways this week and they will all have the same goal.

"To make our highways safe," said Creel, president of the Alabama Chiefs of Police Association. "Statistics indicate a higher visibility of law enforcement equals less accidents, and that's what we're after."

Creel said local police will join forces with state troopers from Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi for the "Take Back Our Highways" campaign.

The weeklong event begins today and concludes Sunday.

Col. J. Christopher Murphy, director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, said the program was introduced in August to save lives and increase public awareness about safety.

Reports indicate that during the August campaign, troopers issued 26,126 tickets. Murphy said rural traffic fatalities dropped 69 percent compared to the same time period in 2006.

According to the University of Alabama CARE Research and Development Laboratory, which compiled data for the state, there have been 663 fatalities on state highways as of Nov. 14, compared to 739 during the same period in 2006.

Locally, there have been 48 traffic fatalities in northwest Alabama and the southern Tennessee counties of Lawrence and Wayne this year. In 2006, there were 72 traffic-related deaths reported before Thanksgiving.

Murphy said having troopers from Mississippi and Tennessee join the effort enhances an already productive campaign.

"In the tri-state area, we're making a commitment to give holiday travelers one more reason to be thankful - arriving safely," Murphy said.

He said officers from all three states will target driving behaviors that cause crashes, such as speeding, failure to yield the right of way, following too closely, driver inattention and driving while under the influence.

In 2006, during the 102-hour Thanksgiving holiday travel period, 19 people were killed in traffic wrecks in Alabama, five in Mississippi and 20 in Tennessee.

Allen Parrish, professor of computer science and director of the CARE lab, said studies indicate alcohol, speed and poor weather conditions have caused the majority of accidents during the two past Thanksgiving holiday seasons.

"Alcohol, speed and bad weather are a lethal combination," Parrish said.

"Proactive enforcement of traffic laws is a time-tested and proven remedy used to reduce the number of traffic crashes and deaths caused by crashes," Creel said. "All we're trying to do is to make sure people travel safely and arrive safe for Thanksgiving."

Tom Smith can be reached at 740-5757 or tom.smith@timesdaily.com.