The Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO) held a press conference in Shelby County on April 4, as they partnered with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Memphis and Bartlett Police Departments, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, and other local agencies.
THSO announced “Operation Hands-Free” and invited the media to ride on the bus with local law enforcement spotters looking for drivers using their cell phones and people not wearing seatbelts. The spotters would radio the violations to officers in cars and on motorcycles assigned to this operation, so they could stop those vehicles to write traffic citations.
Operation Hands-Free was conducted statewide in Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga, and Knoxville on the same day. The purpose of Operation Hands-Free is to reduce distracted-driving crashes and fatalities by increasing enforcement efforts and educating citizens about the states’ hands-free laws.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) will assist by using digital highway message boards to spread awareness. The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development will display outdoor banners at welcome centers statewide.
Drivers can learn more about Tennessee’s hands-free law at www.HandsFreeTN.com. Click here to access distracted-driving crash data provided by Tennessee’s Integrated Traffic Analysis Network (TITAN): http://www.tn.gov/.../dashboards/distracted-driver.html.
The focus for April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/.../april-distracted-driving...
Original source can be found here
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