(RUTHERFORD COUNTY) If you were traveling I-24 a week ago, between 2:30 and 8:30PM last Wednesday, July 26, 2023, you definitely saw lots of BLUE LIGHTS in Rutherford as well as Davidson and Coffee counties. OPERATION SUMMERTIME BLUES was focusing on aggressive and distracted drivers. There were extra teams of officers stopping drivers for traffic violations from the Davidson County to Coffee County lines. There were police cars, drones, even the THP helicopter closely watching the traffic.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Sean Vinson noted, “No traffic crashes or traffic congestion occurred during the six-hour event in Rutherford County, but three drivers received citations for reckless driving.”
“You saw blue lights everywhere,” Vinson said. “It just means everyone got home safely.”
Thirty drivers were cited for driving while holding a cell phone, 27 drivers were cited for speeding and 24 drivers were cited for not wearing a seat belt.
Two drivers were charged after a records showed they were wanted on unrelated charges.
“For the most part, citizens were doing really well,” Vinson said.
“For the most part, citizens were doing really well,” Vinson said.
OPERATION SUMMERTIME BLUES also gave officers an opportunity to see, first hand, how the new Tennessee Department of Transportation’s (T-DOT) smart corridor worked with heavy traffic.
T-DOT studies show the Rutherford County section of I-24 has seen a 60 per cent increase in traffic since 2005, and they have installed five large black screen projection signs that give real-time traffic information to passing motorists. The traffic flow is controlled by adjusting the speed limits in segments of the interstate. Some sections during OPERATION SUMMERTIME BLUES showed 35 MPH, 55 MPH and 70 MPH. Radar placed along the road calculates the current speed of traffic and sends it to the system, warning drivers of the current conditions ahead of them, giving them time to slow down.
OPERATION SUMMERTIME BLUES hopefully prevented any crash injuries or deaths.
For information purposed only, there were a total of 370 citations give to motorists during OPERATION SUMMERTIME BLUES: 204 were given by RCSO and 169 by the THP. In addition, the “stops” resulted in 3 arrests.
