Pinellas Law Enforcement Takes Action To Counter Florida's High Crash-Related Deaths

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — Ahead of Memorial Day, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Largo Police Department and Pinellas Park Police Department will be cracking down on speeding drivers as part of a state program to curb aggressive driving.

According to AAA, 37.1 million Americans are expected to travel by car this Memorial Day, a 6 percent increase over last year.

And a new study just released by the car insurance savings app, Jerry, found that Florida experiences the third-highest traffic-related death toll during the holiday weekend, behind Texas and California.

According to Jerry, Florida is also home to the top three deadliest counties across the United States: Palm Beach County, Broward County and Hillsborough County.

The deadliest day of the weekend overall is Saturday, but Friday night sees the most fatalities per hour in Florida. The deadliest hours are between 6 p.m. and 3 a.m., with 2 a.m. Sunday ranking as the worst.

To that end, the Florida Department of Transportation for Speed Enforcement has awarded contracts to the Pinellas sheriff, Largo police and Pinellas Park police to fund a speeding and aggressive driving enforcement campaign.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said deputies and police will conduct "saturation patrols" throughout Pinellas County to get drivers, pulling over speeding and aggressive drivers and reduce crashes and fatalities in the county.

The saturation patrols will be focused in high accident areas throughout the county.

The FDOT Enhanced Law Enforcement Engagement campaign runs through Oct. 31 as part of the state's Zero Fatalities and Serious Injuries initiative.

Subgrants are awarded to state and local safety-related agencies as "seed" money to assist in the development and implementation of programs in traffic safety priority areas. Funding for these subgrants are apportioned to states annually from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, according to a formula based on population and road miles.

As of Thursday, the Largo Police Department said drivers should be aware that officers with speed guns will be stationed in high-accident areas and will be pulling over drivers for infractions that could result in crashes.

Likewise, the Pinellas Park Police Department will expand its officer presence on state roadways with high crash rates, focusing on enforcement of the Florida Highway Strategic Plan with an emphasis on impaired drivers.

The Clearwater Police Department said is will expand officer presence on state roadways with high crash rates, increasing public awareness of the importance of safe driving.

"We are excited to partner with FDOT on such an important project to make our roads safer for everyone," said Deputy Police Chief Michael Walek.

As the school year ends, Clearwater police are also urging parents to talk with their young drivers about the importance of safe driving and avoiding distracted driving, noting that car crashes are a leading cause of death for teens across the country.

Florida teens ages 15 to 19 represent nearly 5 percent of Florida’s driving population; however, more than 11 percent of all crashes in Florida involved a teen driver in 2021, according to Clearwater police.

And nearly half of the total crashes across Florida involving a teen driver in 2021 had at least one passenger in a vehicle. According to research, the risk of a fatal crash dramatically increases in direct relation to the number of passengers in a vehicle. The likelihood that a teen driver will engage in risky behavior triples when multiple passengers are in the same vehicle.

Clearwater police said parents should discuss risky driving behaviors and set firm rules for driving for their teens. This involves not only adhering to traffic laws, but also not loading vehicles with passengers, placing their phones on “do not disturb” mode when driving and, most importantly, not driving under the influence of any alcohol or drugs, including marijuana.

"FDOT District Seven is committed to making our roads safer through partnerships with local law enforcement agencies," said FDOT District Seven safety engineer Emmeth Duran, P.E. "Through this program, we are working tor each of FDOT's target of zero fatal crashes and serious injuries."