Skip to main content

City achieves zero fatality 25-year milestone

For the first time in 25 years, no deaths occurred as the result of a traffic crash in Jackson, Tennessee, the city announced at a news conference yesterday.
February 2, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

For the first time in 25 years, no deaths occurred as the result of a traffic crash in Jackson, Tennessee, the city announced at a news conference yesterday. In 2006, the year the Jackson Police Department began using 17 American Traffic Solutions’ (ATS) technology-based systems to enforce traffic laws, 12 people were killed. In 2007 the number was reduced by half to six and halved again to three in 2008. Last year there were no fatalities due to traffic collisions.

According to Police Chief, Gill Kendrick, “The Jackson Police Department would like very much to offer both thanks and congratulations to the people of Jackson on this accomplishment. Certainly the red-light cameras and the speed van are not entirely responsible for the decrease. It takes the support of Judge Blake Anderson, who has made safer roadways a priority at City Court. It takes the work done by the engineering department, which has made improvements to roadways that enhance safety. Mostly, it takes the efforts of drivers to be more cognisant of safety each and every time they get in a vehicle.”

Kendrick continued, “People sometimes criticise the red-light cameras and speed van. Please keep in mind that we are not asking citizens to do anything new. We are just asking citizens to stop at red lights and obey the speed limit. Those who simply obey the traffic laws will never participate in the photo safety programme. To ensure the safety of the citizens of Jackson, the officers of the Jackson Police Department will continue their intensive efforts to remove impaired drivers from the roadways. Because speeding, running red lights and non-compliance with the safety belt and child restraint laws place people in danger, these laws will continue to be vigorously enforced as well.”

ATS has been serving the City of Jackson with intersection safety cameras since July 2006. The speed van was added in September 2009. Red-light cameras are located at four intersections in the city while the van deploys at different locations throughout the city to discourage drivers from speeding.

Related Content

  • EU urged to fast-track revised cross-border enforcement law
    July 21, 2014
    TISPOL and its road safety partners across Europe are urging the EU to fast-track the adoption of a modified law on cross-border enforcement of traffic offences such as speeding. The modified rules, published by the European Commission, come in response to a European Court of Justice ruling in May that said the existing law, which came into force in November last year, had been adopted on an incorrect legal basis. The ECJ has said the current rules could remain in effect until May 2015 while new legisla
  • US traffic deaths at 16-year high
    May 18, 2022
    'Grim milestone confirms we are moving backwards when it comes to safety,' says GHSA
  • UK road safety’ is stagnating’ – IAM and RoSPA call for new strategy
    July 1, 2016
    Independent road safety charity IAM RoadSmart and safety charity the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) have called for government action following the release of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) reported road casualties in Great Britain 2015. The 2015 figures show there were 1,732 reported road deaths – two per cent fewer compared with 2014. According to the DfT, this is the second lowest annual total on record after 2013. The number of people seriously injured in reported road tr
  • Cost-benefit analysis of red light cameras in US cities and towns
    July 18, 2012
    American Traffic Solutions (ATS) has commissioned a cost-benefit analysis the results of which it claims show the direct economic savings to communities that result from using red-light safety cameras at dangerous intersections. The analysis was carried out by John Dunham and Associates, an economic research firm specialising in economic and fiscal impact studies.