Sparta May Adopt State Traffic Rules of the Road

The City of Sparta may adopt the State Traffic Offenses and Rules of the Road.

Police Chief Jeff Guth said an update to the municipal code will help the police department and the city.

“The last time these were in 1996. And so, basically what we have done is we are adopting the new codes out of the state TCA for the traffic,” Guth said. “Because a lot of the laws have changed and we have some new ones on the books, hands-free law and things like that.”

Guth said the code would affect the court system as well.

“That will give us the opportunity to be able to put those charges in city court,” Guth said. “Instead of having to bog down general sessions court with those.”

The Sparta Board of Aldermen and Mayor approved the first reading of the ordinance Thursday.

“We are just fixing this ordinance up and getting it together. Our city attorney, Lynn Omohundro, she is going to look at it and make sure everything is good on it,” Guth said. “We are just wanting to address those issues with it.”

The ordinance must be passed on a second reading before enacted.