State and Tuscaloosa Police Cite 70 Drivers in First Weekend Crackdown

State and local police worked together to issue 86 citations to 70 drivers during a two-day detail designed to reduce dangerous driving in the Tuscaloosa area.

Stephanie Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Tuscaloosa Police Department, said the jointly conducted crackdown took place last weekend on September 2nd and 3rd and that more special details are expected in the next several months.

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“Our goal is to reduce the number of accidents we’re having and increase the safety of drivers, especially on football game weekends when we have so many more drivers on the roads,” said TPD Capt. Billy Hallman, commander of the department’s Traffic Division. “We hope this will promote safe driving habits, and ultimately prevent wrecks with serious injuries or fatalities.”

Taylor said during these special details, police will be especially vigilant for speeding drivers in areas where accidents are known to occur often.

In the first detail of its kind, TPD and State Troopers patrolled Interstate 359 and the downtown Tuscaloosa area, where they stopped 70 drivers and issued 86 tickets during a seven-hour period spread over Friday and Saturday.

Taylor said multiple violators were racing or showing off high-speed in the area of I-359 and Skyland Boulevard, and that their vehicles were impounded after the traffic stops.

Taylor also said state police are still looking for a driver caught going 131 miles per hour who fled from patrolling officers, crashed their Ford Mustang and escaped the area on foot.