F'ville police implement new traffic safety initiative

Sun, 10/25/2009 - 10:58pm
By: Ben Nelms

Fayetteville Police have announced a three-pronged initiative aimed at reducing injuries from motor vehicle accidents. The new Traffic Management Team (TMT) has been designed to promote traffic safety though education, engineering and enforcement.

The TMT program will use four officers with specialized expertise, equipment and materials to provide public education about traffic safety, serve as consultants for traffic engineering issues related to traffic safety and to target enforcement efforts where there are problems with traffic law compliance, according to Maj. Kevin Gooding.

Gooding said one of the first TMT initiatives will be to improve the seat belt compliance rate. A survey conducted by the Fayette County Health Department in May showed that 16 percent of passenger and pick up truck drivers were not wearing seat belts, he said.

Gooding said that though Fayetteville in 2008 saw a decrease in accident-related injuries, police view the further reduction of those injuries as one of their prime responsibilities.

The TMT program will employ new Dodge Charger traffic enforcement vehicles provided with drug seized forfeiture money.

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Submitted by Spyglass on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 6:45am.

from the myrmidons here. It never changes, many of the bloggers here go negative at the drop of a hat. In their world, nothing is ever positive.

opustv's picture
Submitted by opustv on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 10:57pm.

Fayetteville Police have announced a three-pronged initiative aimed at increasing revenue from motor vehicle drivers. The new Cash Management Team (CMT) has been designed to provide funds though increased citations, higher officer quotas and harassment of motorists.

The CMT program will use four officers with specialized expertise, equipment and materials to provide the county with an increase in confiscated tax-payer funds, serve as collection agents for county issues related to traffic and to target enforcement efforts where there are easy speed trap locations and areas conducive to visual inspection of drivers sitting in traffic, according to Maj. Kevin Gooding.

Gooding said one of the first CMT initiatives will be to improve the speed in which tax payers will be forced to pay for citations. Officers will now carry cell-phone enabled credit card machines in their police cruisers to dramatically impact the county revenue shortfall without the inconvenience of the court system. A survey conducted by the Fayette County Health Department in May showed that law enforcement could more that triple county revenue by targeting pick up truck drivers who were not wearing seat belts or drivers with any type of window tinting.

Gooding said that though Fayetteville in 2008 saw a decrease in traffic-related funds, police view the further increase of fines and selective enforcement one of their prime responsibilities.

The CMT program will employ new Dodge Charger traffic enforcement vehicles because officers think they "make them look cool."


Submitted by Resident A on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 9:44am.

I'm thankful that Fayetteville Police have opted to raise revenues by enforcing traffic laws. I agree that the "safety" program is truly designed to collect revenue. Property tax collections are down. If we avoid an increase in the millage rate, then great! The collections from tickets will bring in revenue from out of county visitors to supplement Fayetteville's tax base. Ticket the hell out of people officers, ticket, ticket, ticket.

NUK_1's picture
Submitted by NUK_1 on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 5:31am.

That's great! Smiling


mapleleaf's picture
Submitted by mapleleaf on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 7:00am.

So the Fayette County Health Department conducted a survey last May allegedly showing 16 percent of “passenger and pick up truck drivers” not wearing seat belts.

Isn’t the Fayette County Health Department an odd agency to conduct a survey about seat belts? Is this within their sphere of competence? Is that what they are paid for?

It is well known that the Georgia law requiring the use of seat belts exempts people in pick up trucks and passengers who are not in the front seat. (You only have to read the law to find out. Look up Official Code of Georgia section 40-8-76.)

So why does the survey refer to pick up truck drivers? If our Georgia legislature could not be persuaded to apply the seat belt law to pick up truck drivers and passengers, why try to pressure pick up truck drivers and passengers to wear seat belts? Shouldn’t the Health Department be talking to state Rep. Matt Ramsey and Senator Ronnie Chance? Shouldn't the Fayetteville police talk to them also?

When the law does not require people to do something, you’ll obviously have fewer people doing it. So lumping together people who are required to wear seat belts with people who are not will produce weird, distorted statistics.

You’ve also got to ask how the survey was conducted. Was it just from taking a look at cars from outside? The possibility of error there is great, as window reflections and seat belt colors blending in with clothing can lead to erroneous conclusions. Were road blocks set up? That would be odd, especially for a Health Department.

The media are responsible for the slew of phony statistics with which we, the public, are bombarded. The people who design these alleged surveys have no clue about the science behind the preparation of valid surveys and the presentation of statistics.

My hope is that we continue to have teachers in our schools and colleges who teach the subject of Statistics responsibly so we may have a discerning public who knows phony baloney made-up statistics when they see them. Which is most of the time these days.


Submitted by Bonkers on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 4:32pm.

Everyone should wear seatbelts! Law or no law.

The phony health department statistics mean nothing.

Four officers looking for seat belts with Dodge Chargers! The Chargers will impress the High schools also.

Somehow I feel tickets are going to be written to pay some bills.

They might make most of us safer if they looked outside bars and clubs at closing time or intercepted the tons of dope coming through Fayette County.

mapleleaf's picture
Submitted by mapleleaf on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 3:14pm.

Mama Maple tells you that people who ride pick up trucks are exempt from the Georgia law requiring people to wear seat belts. You understand that? Good.

The Fayetteville Police tell you that they care about your safety while you’re on the road. You get that? Good.

So why don’t the Fayetteville Police tell state Rep. Matt Ramsey and Sen. Ronnie Chance, our local representatives in the Georgia General Assembly, to help pass a law removing that exemption so people in pick up trucks will be safe too? Hey, why don’t they?

Believe me, yo Mama loves you more than the Fayetteville Police. She cares about your safety. She wants you to be safe from accidents, and also safe from these fines the Fayetteville Police want to love you to death with.

Meanwhile, buckle up, kiddos, and show those police you don’t need no law to stay safe.

Oh, and be sure your car tag is current, and no pot in the car, you hear?


Cyclist's picture
Submitted by Cyclist on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 3:42pm.

I think we all know that Ramsey and Chance will not touch that one. Teens with cell phones, that's another matter.
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Submitted by normal on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 6:58am.

None of this will work unless they have a machine that detects people acting stupidly. Yes you know who you are, speeders, women putting on makeup, men shaving, eating whoppers while driving, being on the telephone, texting, and the best DWI, (driving while illegal.)

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