The Governor’s Highway Safety Office and the Tennessee Highway Patrol are focusing even more resources statewide on decreasing the number of traffic fatalities, especially counties that have the largest increases in traffic fatalities.
Shelby County has had 18 more traffic deaths this year than last year and Maury County saw fatalities triple from 5 to 15 by the beginning of this month.
Governor’s Highway Safety Office Director Kendell Poole says though fatality rates have leveled out a bit, improvements have led to an overall drop of 33% from eight years ago:
Poole also says the way the state collects traffic data influences the funding available for safety initiatives:
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The state’s latest data on traffic fatalities can be found here: