Police launch a new night shift to fight reckless driving, fake tags, and high crash rates
- MPD launches new nighttime traffic shift to cut crashes and catch reckless drivers.
- Officers will patrol high-crash zones including Poplar, Summer, and Lamar Avenues.
- Crackdown targets speeding, drag racing, distracted driving, and fake drive-out tags.
Across many American cities, traffic safety seems to be back on the agenda, largely because drivers treat speed limits as little more than vague suggestions. Memphis, Tennessee, is about to see things slow down as drivers who are used to speeding and reckless driving just to keep up with traffic should prepare to see more red and blue lights on the road.
The Memphis Police Department says it’s rolling out several new initiatives to reduce dangerous behavior on the road. It all starts with a new permanent night shift looking to reclaim the streets.
Read: Memphis Family Arrested With Stolen Luxury Cars Worth Over $1M, Including Urus And 720S
MPD’s Traffic Division Commander, Colonel Willie Mathena, says the new shift is the result of data and public frustration: “We look at the data. We listen to the citizens of Memphis. And looking at that data, we decided we needed to create an afternoon shift to look at and concentrate on traffic enforcement to make our streets safer,” he told FOX13. That means more patrols after dark when speeding, distracted driving, and street racing tend to spike.
Patrolling the Hot Spots
It won’t just be those who are racing, driving wildly, or speeding that get caught, though. Mathena says the department will also look for distracted drivers, those driving impaired, and notorious ‘drive-out’ or temp tags. He stressed that on occasion, officers find these tags are fictitious or even purchased online.
The department says it’s mapped out trouble spots. High-crash zones include Winchester and Riverdale, Shelby and Airways, and the Polar Ave corridor. Officers will saturate these areas during peak crash hours with the hopes of reducing crashes and keeping late-night commuters safer.
Coordinated Crackdowns
Beyond daily enforcement, the city is also conducting time-limited special operations when it can. On September 19, it teamed up with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Highway Patrol to crack down on dangerous driving. The joint operation resulted in 200 citations, several seizures, and one felony arrest. Expect more where that came from, too, because the National Guard is headed to the city soon.
As someone who used to live in Memphis and still drives through with some regularity, I can personally attest to the fact that many drive quite fast and police presence is not as frequent, as in my opinion, it should be. The streets mentioned above are hot spots for questionable activity, so hopefully this new shift will help make streets safer.
Photo MPD
#Memphis #Drivers #Surprise #Police #Ramp #Night #Patrols
