THSO kicks off ‘100 Days of Summer H.E.A.T.’ highway safety campaign

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – The Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO) kicked off its ‘100 Days of Summer H.E.A.T’ campaign on Thursday with an event at the University Parkway Baptist Church.

‘100 Days of Summer H.E.A.T: Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic’ is a multi-jurisdictional highway safety campaign between THSO and agencies from Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. Checkpoints are set up throughout Tennessee and its border states from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The 100 days between the two holidays are considered one of the most accident-prone times of the year.

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The THSO held the event on Thursday to encourage other agencies in the Eastern District of Tennessee to participate in the campaign.

“To change a community, it takes a community, and to change a state, it takes the whole state,” said Armando Fontes, Law Enforcement Liaison with THSO. “So it’s important for all of us to work together and to help one another.”

Fontes said teamwork will make drivers more aware of the seriousness of the campaign.

“It’s important that we conduct these events because it does raise awareness and it holds people accountable,” he said. “And when people are aware that we’re out and we’re out in unison working together, they’re going to be more conscientious about destructive behaviors that put people’s lives at risk.”

He said this campaign makes a difference in “law enforcement and communities everywhere.”

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