City officials have identified two “speed corridors” where excessive speed frequently contributes to crashes: Independence Boulevard, from Morningdale Drive to Idlewild Road, and The Plaza, between Eastway Drive and Milton Road.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers, with help from Mecklenburg County sheriff’s deputies, have begun to beef up enforcement efforts in those areas, officials said Tuesday. Other parts of the city will likely be targeted for heavier speeding enforcement in the future, too.
“People should expect when they’re driving around our city that speeding is not something we’ll just look the other way on,” said Larken Egleston, who chairs the city council’s Safe Communities Committee. “They’re really putting their lives and the lives of others in danger and it’s not something we can tolerate.”
The city is also eyeing smartphone technology that would alert drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists about speeders and other traffic hazards. Charlotte would spend about $100,000 for equipment needed to pilot the technology in the South End neighborhood, according to a proposal recommended Tuesday by the Safe Communities committee.
Once that equipment is in place, drivers who download the TravelSafely appwill get audible alerts about speeding cars and drivers who appear unlikely to stop at intersections. The app would also warn motorists if they are driving too fast in work zones or school zones, or if they are approaching emergency vehicles, a dangerous curve, a cyclist, or a pedestrian on a crosswalk.
Cary recently launched a pilot project to test the app, and will soon begin implementing it citywide. If the program proves successful in South End, it could be expanded to other Charlotte locations as well, Egleston said.
Across North Carolina, deaths from speed-related crashes have soared since the pandemic began. More than 1,700 people died in crashes in North Carolina last year — the highest number in more than 20 years, state data show. Speeding has contributed to about a quarter of those deadly wrecks, playing an even greater role in the highway havoc than alcohol.
“In 2021, we may still have been in COVID mode and our minds were less focused on driving,” said Mark Ezzell, director of the N.C. Governor’s Highway Safety Program. “It requires our full attention to guide a 2,000-pound missile down the highway.”
State tries to slow drivers
“Death in the Fast Lane,” an investigation by the Charlotte Observer and Raleigh News & Observer, found that extreme speeding — where drivers fly 20, 30, even 50 mph over the speed limit — has become rampant in North Carolina.
The investigation, published in June, found that despite the state’s rapid growth over the past decade, speeding enforcement declinedover that period. That’s largely because workloads for law enforcement agencies have been increasing far faster than staffing.
The stories also revealed that the state’s overwhelmed courts let most speeders off easy.As a result, many are able to drive at dangerous speeds, avoid punishment and remain behind the wheel.
Ezzell said his office is working on several initiatives that he hopes will encourage drivers to slow down.
The pandemic left many North Carolina courts with lengthy backlogs. That has meant that many drivers who are cited for extreme speeding and impaired driving go long periods without facing punishment. Ezzell’s office is trying to get more grant-funded personnel into some courtrooms to help clear the backlogs.
“Folks who are engaged in that kind of behavior need and deserve swift and certain penalties,” Ezzell said.
Under a separate project that the governor’s safety program has recently begun funding, a social worker is visiting with people in the trauma unit at Carolinas Medical Center who have been injured in crashes. It refers some injured drivers to safe driving classes and drug and alcohol treatment.
Ezzell said his office will focus heavily this year on preventing speed-related crashes.
“2021 was just an awful year on our roads,” Ezzell said. “We are going to be emphasizing speeding more because the data supports that being a concern.”
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