News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Monterey Aldermen expressed concerns about the ongoing issues of 18-wheelers and dump trucks that are speeding and jake braking on Highway 84.
Monterey Police Chief Bill Randolph said the department averages around thirty to forty speeding tickets a week on Highway 84. Randolph said the department is short-handed to address the problem as two officers are currently in the police academy.
“It is hard to sit and run stationary radar and listen for that and patrol and answer calls all the time,” Randolph said. “I feel like everybody is doing the best they can. For the last probably a week I’ve been sitting at the top of the hill myself several hours a day.”
Randolph said the severe noise issues caused by jake braking continue even after the city has put signs prohibiting the practice at every endpoint coming into town. Randolph said he reached out to the state about how to handle the issue and the state told him they do not write any jake braking tickets.
“How do we determine who is legal and who is not?” Randolph said. “They said you have to be a level one vehicle enforcement inspector to inspect the vehicle to know if they are in compliance with the jake braking and the exhaust, so we are trying to do the best we can on it.”
Cultural Administrator Rafferty Cleary said the town is still taking surveys on traffic concerns. Cleary said the survey can go a long way in finding a solution to the traffic issues.
“I don’t know if we could ever keep or prevent big trucks from coming up out of Highway 84,” Cleary said. “But there are ways that you can put traffic common measures in place that will discourage trucks from coming up the mountain and use an alternate route.”
Randolph said a majority of the speeding tickets on Highway 84 are given out during the day. Randolph said the department has to focus on another issue at night that has recently been raised.
“At night right now we’ve got several problem areas and I think there are some people in here that can vouch for that,” Randolph said. “That are housing a lot of people once it gets dark they are walking the streets to try and help themselves to all the neighbor’s properties, so we are concentrating at night on patrol instead of sitting and running radar.”
