Tennessee Safety Commissioner Seeks to Lower Traffic Deaths at Budget Hearing
With traffic deaths at a 49 year low, safety officials still want funds for improvement.
Tennessee transportation safety officials met with Gov. Bill Haslam Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss state economics in budget hearings. Officials will make budgetary requests to the governor and he has requested that they come to the hearings with plans prepared to cut their departments’ budgets by 5 percent.
Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons informed the governor in Tuesday’s hearing that the agency’s top two priorities were decreasing wait times at driver service centers and reducing Tennessee’s traffic fatality rate.
The fatality rate last year of 946 deaths was the lowest number the state has seen since 1963.
Officials plan to decrease the fatality rate even further by increasing up seat belt and DUI enforcement.
In addition to the attendance of Gibbons, heads from the education, human services, children’s services, and more will attend these hearings.