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Troopers kick off Take Back our Highways

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - Alabama State Troopers kicked off their Take Back our Highways campaign Saturday.

They hope to have a goal of zero traffic fatalities during the last week of July.

Last year at that time,  18 people died.  That's the highest number in 2008 during a single week.

"Everybody tells us how hard it is to walk up the vehicles, but it doesn't even compare to walking up to a door late at night," said Lt. Terry Ware. 

Alabama police and sheriff departments will take part in the campaign that will end on July 31st.

Mississippi, Flordia, Georgia, and Tennessee highway patrols are also joining in to prevent fatal wrecks.

"In the last two years, our state troopers have saved 195 lives on state roadways, but we're still seeing too many preventable fatalities in Alabama," said Col. J. Christopher Murphy, Public Safety director.

"The drunken driver in her 50s who drove off the road and overturned; the teenage driver, not wearing a seatbelt, who failed to yield the right of way to an oncoming vehicle; the speeding motorcyclist who lost control, ran off the road and into a ditch ... these fatalities never should have happened. "These are the lives we are working to save," Murphy said.

"We have seen great improvements in safety on our roadways. But as long as 65 percent of trooper-worked fatalities are not buckled up, and as long as more than 40 percent of trooper-worked fatalities involve alcohol, there are fatalities we can and will prevent."

"Motorists in Alabama can expect to see more troopers on our roadways, and they can expect to encounter a trooper if they speed, fail to buckle up, or drive under the influence of alcohol. Motorists endanger themselves and others when they choose to disobey traffic laws," Murphy said.

"We encourage motorists instead to drive the speed limit, buckle up, and partner with us to increase safety on our roadways and to save lives."

Some of the things they are looking for are: speeding, failure to yield the right of way, following too closely, driver inattention, and DUI.

Troopers remind motorists to obey speed limits, buckle up, signal when turning and changing lanes, pass safely, keep a safe distance from other vehicles, obey all other traffic laws, and demonstrate patience and courtesy while driving.

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