Published on Wednesday, June 8, 2005
in the WCJB TV20 News

FHP Adds Resources to Levy County

State troopers are aggressively trying to scale back the number of people dying on area roads. Several local drivers got a taste Wednesday of what they're doing in Operation Eastside.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers are clocking cars all week as they try to curb deadly crashes in Levy County. Troopers are targeting dangerous roads where they're seeing the bulk of crashes and deadly accidents. Williston resident Bryan Baker says it's a good idea, but he claims he was driving slower than what troopers clocked him at.

"I was warned 5 miles up the road that they was there. So, I made sure I put it at 65," says Baker.

Drivers flashing their headlights and word of mouth that troopers are out in full force could be the reason why troopers say they're writing fewer tickets than at the start of the week.

"Like I told my officers, don't feel bad when you don't catch people not doing, not breaking the law. Actually that's good that if people are complying to the law then maybe just our presence and our visibility from the day before has done some good," says Lt. Patrick Riordan of Florida Highway Patrol.

Baker got a ticket for not having his insurance card on him and a warning for speeding.

Though they're cracking down on speeding motorists, troopers have not nailed down exactly what is causing the spike in deadly accidents.

"A lot of times what we've found is that just a lot of times it's just plain driver error," says Riordan.

Regardless, troopers are frustrated with the spike in fatalities.

Riordan says, "We've had 14 fatality crashes as a total last year, and this year we're at the same mark and that's what we're out here trying to so is reduce the number of fatality crashes that we have in Levy County."

Troopers will be out running Operation Eastside through at least Thursday. Then they'll evaluate the locations, time, and manpower spent to decide on future operations.