Sheriff's Office: More than a few motorists speeding on US 64

On a hot early Monday evening, Cpl. Rashawn Harris of the Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office stood on the overpass of the U.S. 64 interchange for Kingsboro Road and demonstrated how his service-issued speed measurement device works.

Within minutes, Harris confirmed that a westbound U.S. 64 motorist was driving 91 mph in what is a 70 mph zone.

“Out here, 91 is, like, every day,” Harris said of the numbers of motorists who disobey the speed limit on the rural segments of the superhighway. “If you’re out here long enough, you’ll see a lot of 90s — and then people are not paying attention.”

Not long after that, Harris confirmed that another motorist was driving 89 mph and that another motorist was driving 92 mph.

The AAA automobile club, in a news release June 24, said that Fourth of July holiday travelers are going to be setting new records both nationwide and in North Carolina.

Specifically, the AAA said, nearly 71 million people nationwide are expected to be traveling 50 miles or more away from their respective homes, with more than two million of them being North Carolinians.

Harris and his fellow deputies are going to be working to make sure the highways and roads in Edgecombe County are safe through the Fourth of July holiday period.

This also is keeping in mind Harris is patrolling in a county with a U.S. 64 that serves as a key part of corridors from the Appalachians through the Triad and the Raleigh-Durham areas to the Atlantic Coast’s beaches.

Harris also spoke not far away from where he parked a new Dodge Durango that still has the new vehicle smell inside. Prior to starting to drive the vehicle, Harris had for a couple years been driving a Ford Mustang featured on the sheriff’s office social media link.

Harris, 28, has been with the sheriff’s office for about 5½ years.

Asked about what life on patrol is like, he said, “Well, I actually love it.”

“You’re out protecting and serving, protecting people,” he said.

Sheriff Clee Atkinson, in a phone interview over the weekend, spoke of having been with the N.C. Highway Patrol from 1997-2017, all in Edgecombe County, and of knowing the curves and twists and turns of all the highways and roads in the county.

“At the end of the day, if someone has been drinking and they’re unfamiliar with some of these roads, then it can be tragic,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson said that he cannot recall specifically how many scenes of wrecks he has been to in Edgecombe County, but he said that he has been to some pretty bad ones.

“Speed and alcohol always seem to be the factors — contributing factors,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson emphasized that when a motorist is driving on a backroad, there is not much room for error because of trees and utility poles lining the roads.

At the same time, Atkinson spoke of being in his work vehicle while on U.S. 64 and of at times motorists driving anywhere from 90 mph to 100 mph on the superhighway.

“The four lanes are always an issue because of the high speed limit,” he said.

Overall, he said of the Fourth of July holiday period, “We’re praying that we can cover the whole county and keep everybody safe.”

Atkinson said that he believes motorists need to give themselves a bit more time to get to their respective destinations, maintain a safe following distance and remain alert.

Atkinson also emphasized that if one is going to drink, then he or she needs to have a designated driver at the ready.

Chief Deputy Allen Wilson with the Nash County Sheriff’s Office, in a phone interview over the weekend, advised that when driving, a good rule of thumb is to follow the two-second rule.

Generally, that rule means a motorist should remain at least two seconds behind other motorists on the road, regardless of speed.

That gives the trailing motorist sufficient time and distance to be able to react if the motorist in front suddenly slows or halts.

Wilson also is asking motorists to refrain from using their cell phones while driving.

Wilson emphasized that a motorist driving 60 mph is in effect moving at a rate of about 30 yards per second.

“So that tells you that in about 3½ seconds you’ve traveled the length of a football field — and 3½ seconds is nothing when you glance down at your phone starting to do a text,” Wilson said.

He also is asking motorists to click their seatbelts into place and to make sure children are buckled in, too.

“If seatbelts were not important, NASCAR drivers wouldn’t wear safety restraints,” he said.

Wilson said that nighttime checkpoints by a combined effort of a variety of law enforcement officers occurred late last week in Nash County, including two in the Rocky Mount area.

Wilson said that in the Rocky Mount area, one checkpoint was set up on N.C. 97 just outside the city limits and the other checkpoint was set up on Halifax Road.

“Those checking stations were very, very productive as far as getting impaired drivers off (the highways and roads) and finding people with various traffic violations,” he said.