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ECSO Steps Up Speed Enforcement On Highway 97 Following Triple Fatal Crash
December 1, 2021
Following a triple fatal crash an other injury wrecks on Highway 97 last weekend, has area residents are calling for an increased law enforcement presence on the state highway.
“We have had more personnel out there and have heard the complaints recently,” Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Commander Andrew Hobbs told NorthEscambia.com Tuesday. “We will continue to address the complaints from the community.”
He said the ECSO has conducted over 130 traffic stops in the last five months on Highway 97. That number jumps to nearly 200 when including vehicle stops on nearby roads just off the 22 miles of Highway 97.
The Sheriff’s Office has placed speed-checking trailers along Highway 97. The units collect anonymous data on vehicle speeds, which Hobbs said allows the ECSO to work smarter.
The data from the trailers can be used to determine the peak time for speeding on Highway 97.
“We can use that information to put our resources from the Century and Molino precincts out there during those times.”
Florida Highway Patrol Lieutenant Jason King said it is difficult for FHP to patrol all of the state’s roadway.
“It’s extremely difficult, so we try to partner with all the local police departments and the sheriff’s offices and kind of work together,” King said. “We have a lot of crashes…throughout the day. We only have a certain number of staff that work the roads within a shift,” King said.
The FHP has not released the cause of the three weekend crashes, so it’s not yet known if speed was to blame.
Pictured top: This crash on Highway 97 Saturday afternoon claimed three lives. Pictured below: Seven people were involved in this two vehicle crash Sunday morning on Highway 97. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
28 Responses to “ECSO Steps Up Speed Enforcement On Highway 97 Following Triple Fatal Crash”
It is terrible that it takes deaths of people to open eyes of the tax payers and the law enforcement of this county. So many times I’ve seen several sheriff officers eating at restaurants in Atmore, Flomaton and Century being more than 4-5 at a time, but you never seen them patrolling anywhere. You see a officer perched up on a chair at a local seafood restaurant an his patrol car sitting outside running for 8-10 hours for no reason. And we wonder why accidents are happening. How many of you have patrol cars speeding up and down 29 only to find they are headed to a restaurant with multiple other officers. How about our Nokomis Rd and North Pineville Rd being over-run by those overweight log trucks on the 16 and 21 ton low weight bridges, so many times I have reached out and they say you have to call them in. No one should have to call they should be patrolled. All I ask is do your job and protect the county and our property.
Most drivers in this area, they drive the way they were taught by their elders, the only difference is there are more people on the road and more chances of an accident We influence our children, if you act a fool in a vehicle, then they more than likely will act a fool as well. Try leaving earlier and not waiting to the last minute.
I don’t understand why state and local authorities are not taking advantage of the vast amount of citizens who are willing to help. These volunteers don’t have to interact with the public, give them a calibrated radar gun, training on using the radar
Device and a couple of decent cameras, tickets can be sent in the mail and the vehicle owner can sort out who the responsible party is for paying the fine.
Highway 97 is nothing but a race track people always passing in a no passing zone, passing in a sharp curve.. (STUPID!)
Always in a hurry not thinking about people around you. it’s just sad but looks like maybe just maybe The escambia county sheriffs department will put a stop to all of this nonsense!!
it’s enough that we have to deal with Covid now we have to deal with people driving unsafe which is been going on for a very long time and needs to stop!!!
think about the other people while you’re driving so no one else gets killed.
How do you suppose FHP run radar all the time in all these places when they are responding to the multiple, multiple, motor vehicle accidents that occur throughout the day!!! They can only do so much and just like every other agency, you are limited with staffing causing response times to be increased as well.
“Curious to see how many citations were issued and the type of offenses ”
We will be getting those stats for a story.
On Wednesday – 12/1/21 – from 6:30am to 6:15pm the online dispatch log indicates 42 traffic stops along Highway 97. Curious to see how many citations were issued and the type of offenses – ie: speeding, improper passing, failure to maintain a single lane, etc.
Also interesting to know how many personnel were assigned to this enforcement project. For those who think the fines imposed from any tickets off-sets the associated costs with this type of traffic enforcement is a money-maker for the Sheriffs Office, they would be sadly mistaken. The Legislature dictates how revenue collected from traffic fines is distributed. The last I recall, the Agency issuing the citation gets less than $3 from each ticket and the County collects a few dollars for the general revenue fund. But the vast majority of money goes elsewhere from the courts to various programs – often having nothing to do with traffic enforcement.
Tougher penalties are needed.
And distracted driving should be treated the same as a D.U.I..
The end results are the same so the penalty should be also..
@Thomas
Trust me, you DON’T want speed cameras installed. Having dealt with this (what the locals call “highway robbery”) in Europe, it is a nightmare. If you let someone use your car and they speed, guess who gets the bill? Guess whose insurance goes up? Not to mention, imagine you’re going to the ER or the wife is having a baby? In that circumstance you can bet your behind I’m breaking the speed limit. A deputy knows what is going on because I’ve called it in (or even asked for an escort) but a camera knows nothing. Cameras are a terrible idea. Not only for speeding but red lights.
Be responsible drivers and obey the traffic laws instead of blaming law enforcement for your idiotic actions.
Hopefully this will slow people down and give them an incentive to drive safe. There have been a lot of lives lost on this road.
They was sitting up yesterday and person passed us right by the police and then hlf mile up same person bout caused a wreck with a big truck and bout got head own.
Those that holler the loudest will likely be 1st up to explain to the Officer why they were speeding.
Yes, thanks ECSO for doing what you said. This morning I drove from Atmore to Hwy 29. I saw seven sheriff vehicles and one radar gun. I saw two people being stopped. A year ago my husband was hit on 97 by someone in a hurry to get to the casino. Appreciate your trying to get folks to slow down.
4pm+ is the problem, I’ve been passed in no passing zones, around corners and limited sight zones by people doing 70-80 mph easily.
I may be guilty of 5 over, so when someone blows by me and 2 others while we’re going 60 is insane. People are always going to speed, the lack of safe passing zones is the problem.
Make it a 4 lane, 2 lanes each way and I think problems will be simplified. As the population in this are grows 97 will continue to be a high traffic road way. Time to widen it up.
Boots on the ground period. No enforcement equals more fatalities, and wrecked life’s. Our local and Tallahassee leaders need to pony up more funding for enforcement.
With all the technology out there, these speed trailers should be able to be fitted with a camera system just like the ones at red lights and the toll bridge to capture your tag number so as to send that vehicle a bill. This same technology can be used as well to capture speeders with the information saved on a computer system and be able to be downloaded remotely or by an ECSO employee. This would allow more coverage of areas and would probably catch repeat offenders which should have any fines increased according to the number of times they are caught. Just my two cents worth.
I agree with the earlier comment of Bill Leonard.”FHP can keep two troopers working radar at 29 and Nine Mile Rd. daily bit they are saying it is difficult to patrol the state roads?? Sounds like they need to prioritize their efforts in areas that are having the serious wrecks.”
Just remember that moving resources (cops) to one section of the county takes them from another. County Commissioners need to address the issue of hiring and retaining more qualified officers so that there will be enough cops to run radar on 97 and other problem areas without having to pull those officers from school zones and other duties.
ESCO putting the speed limit trailer 100 yards up 97 from the red light at 29 is not going to give you accurate “speeding” data. Every time I’ve ever seen it, its so close to 29 going north that you can’t even get up to 55 good before crossing it.
So your data is flawed to start with.
Add ECSO Speed Enforcement on Bauer Road from Hwy 98 to Sorrento.
Excessive speed is a problem everywhere in Escambia County, Santa Rosa County, you name it! You can plaster up signs all you want, people don’t care.
It’s definitely worse in the evenings after 4 o’clock. I assume these are people getting off work in Pensacola, and driving home to Walnut Hill or Atmore. That’s when I see people passing 2, 3, or even 4 cars in a row.
They really need to find some good hiding spots, and just sit there and catch people. There are plenty of areas on 97 where they can hide just behind a hill or curve, and people won’t have time to slow down.
There’s not enough deputies available to be in the north end of the county doing speed traps. There’s gotta be a better way to enforce. Instead of arguing one’s point, maybe we can come together & brainstorm a solution. Just as so many viewer solve crimes when they come together (Gabby P. Case), we can do the same as a community and think of steps to prevent these accidents the best possible way. Of course, ultimately it’s the drivers responsibility but if there are stronger repercussions and monitoring, maybe that will help.
The FHP has unlimited resources, this is just an excuse for not doing their job. They are all over hwy 29, but never on 97, this is embarrassing
lived on jacks branch road for years moved back towards town however it’s no better it’s everywhere pensacola has way to many people moving here . what needs to happen is have more officers hired in the traffic division let the public know fines are going up . this time of year the county is going to write tickets on any infraction tag light head light tail light it doesn’t matter however when gas prices start to edge back upwards to around $10 a gallon for gas there will soon be less traffic on the roads. back in the 1950’s you hardly ever seen a car out after midnight. maybe the paper boy on a bicycle lol
It’s funny that the ESCO has been collecting data for months and then they move their speed trailer to face the opposite direction. I have seen 2 deputies running radar on the weekends but nothing earlier in the morning when it is really needed.
FHP can keep two troopers working radar at 29 and Nine Mile Rd. daily bit they are saying it is difficult to patrol the state roads?? Sounds like they need to prioritize their efforts in areas that are having the serious wrecks.
Try Jacks Branch Road while your at it