CHARLOTTE — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and the sheriff’s office are cracking down on drivers in “speed corridors,” while a committee plans to ask the Charlotte City Council for money to fund technology meant to help keep people safe on the roads.
Law enforcement will be focused on speeders on East Independence Boulevard between Morningside Drive and Idlewild Road. The other area of focus is on The Plaza between Eastway Drive and Milton Road.
“If they’re driving outside of what is acceptable, that there will be consequences for that,” Charlotte City Councilman Larken Egleston. “They’re not only putting their own lives at risk. They’re putting the lives of others at risk.”
Egleston, who is the chairman of the Safe Communities Committee, said another area of concern is in South End.
The Safe Communities Committee wants the council to approve $100,000 to pilot new technology there, which would work in tandem with the Travel Safely app.
[ALSO READ: NCDOT recommends safety changes to dangerous stretch of Independence Blvd.]
Drivers would download the app, which would send alerts if drivers are speeding, near a school or a construction zone.
The technology would recognize if they’re traveling near a dangerous curve, pedestrian or a speeding car.
“I think that’s why South End could be an ideal location because we’ve got a younger demographic, and maybe a more technology-oriented demographic,” Egleston said.
Egleston said the city council is expected to consider, in the next few weeks, whether to approve the funding for the technology pilot.
(Watch the video below: Police: 1 dead, 2 others hurt in crash on Independence Boulevard)
This browser does not support the video element.