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Kanuga fatalities trigger speeding crackdown

By Bill Moss, Published: March 31, 2017

A third fatality on Kanuga Road in the past four months has triggered a cooperative speeding crackdown effort by the State Highway Patrol, Hendersonville Police Department and Henderson County Sheriff's Office.

The agencies are pooling their resources to target impaired drivers, speeders and aggressive driving. As team leaders from each agency come together to plan and strategize for this campaign, they will be using data to specifically target days of the week, times of day and locations of the most dangerous sections of roadway to guide and direct enforcement efforts.

Data from the Hendersonville Police Department shows there have been 42 accidents with property damage and two accidents with personal injury in the past twelve months on the part of Kanuga Road inside the city limits. The police department will be deploying their radar equipped motorcycle unit to target speeding and aggressive drivers in this area.

The Sheriff's Office will be using high visibility saturation patrols as well as utilizing the VIPs (Volunteers in Partnership) to regularly and strategically place the radar speed trailer.

The State Highway Patrol, the lead agency on the three fatal collisions, has investigated 49 crashes in 2016 and 50 crashes in 2015 on Kanuga Road. While they have already increased patrol efforts on Kanuga Road, the Highway Patrol is also working with the N.C. Department of Transportation to lower the speed limit in certain areas. They are also discussing engineering aspects that could include well placed rumble strips that may further reduce collisions and fatalities when drivers are distracted or inattentive.

With summer fast approaching, traffic will increase significantly on Kanuga/Crab Creek Road. All three agencies are united and committed to working together with extra patrols, speed enforcement and checkpoints to focus on meaningful solutions to traffic safety problems affecting Kanuga/Crab Creek Road, the sheriff's office said.