A dozen people lost their lives on Cumberland County roads already this year, and Tennessee, county and local law enforcement personnel plan a crackdown today on speeders and unsafe drivers.
The 12 traffic deaths compare with a single death by this time in 2010, according to Tennessee Highway Patrol records. The dramatic increase is in contrast to the 82-fatality drop across the state so far this year compared with last year, state officials said.
“We’re off the board compared to what we were last year,” said Crossville police Lt. Fred Sherrill, a 20-year veteran at the department.
Sherrill has seen the county’s fatality numbers wax and wane over the years, but the current peak “is something we’ve got to get a handle on,” he said.
He couldn’t put a finger on a cause, he said, but he knows the remedy.