ATHENS, Tenn. — Cities and agencies in McMinn County are seeking a Governor’s Highway Safety Office grant for equipment and staff to try and reduce the number of local vehicle crashes and fatalities.
Former Athens police officer Mark Hutchinson has worked for the Tennessee and Georgia Governor’s Highway Safety offices and is helping write grant requests for the program.
“The likelihood of receiving the funding is extremely high,” Mr. Hutchinson recently told the Athens City Council just before the members voted to go after the grant.
Information submitted with the GHSO grant states that McMinn County has “become one of the most dangerous counties in which to drive and live.”
“Every year traffic fatalities have outnumbered homicides in Athens by almost 2 to 1 and vehicle injuries have outnumbered assaults by almost 225 percent,” the application letter states.
Mr. Hutchinson said if the county and its five cities work together, they could net a three-year grant worth $125,000 per year. When it runs out, the local governments may reapply, he said.
The grant will help develop a mobile blood alcohol testing lab and pay the salary of a traffic officer, officials said. The trailer will be equipped with a blood-alcohol testing device such as an Intoximeter and with a digital video camera. Local law enforcement can take the trailer to checkpoints set up anywhere in the county for saturation coverage.
Mr. Hutchinson said McMinn County ranks 10th in the state for overall crashes and has a high percentage of crash-related injuries. He said records show that alcohol or prescription drug use is involved in many crashes and injuries.
People accept the county’s 13 crashes with fatalities last year, he said, “but would they accept those numbers if they were homicides?”
The goal of the grant is to decrease fatalities by 25 percent in the county and 10 percent in Athens. The application deadline is April 18 and the award will be announced in October.
“The end result to this is saving lives,” Police Chief Chuck Ziegler said. “Is it worth it?”
BY THE NUMBERS
10: Rank of McMinn among 95 Tennessee counties for total number of crashes
12: Rank for speed-related fatal crashes
14: Rank for injury crashes
32: Rank for fatal crashes
Source: State of Tennessee, 2007
