PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Police Departments all over the Tampa Bay Area are coming together to try to make our roads safer.
It's all part of an eight-month enforcement and educational program from the Florida Department of Transportation.
"Ambulances go by here daily. At least once or twice a day," said Henry Gamez.
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Gamez owns a juice shop in Largo and said it's getting more and more stressful to get to work.
"Just a lot of traffic, it's really really busy and it's challenging at times," he said.
He said certain times of the year are worse than others.
"When the snowbirds do come in, it gets excessively busy, very busy," said Gamez.
It's something another driver, Terry Caffro, has noticed in St. Pete.
"Typically it's pretty bad and it's only getting worse the more and more people move here," said Caffro.
Caffro said commute times are getting longer.
"It can be very stressful, you know, if you get on the interstate and there's even a small fender bender, it's backed up for miles now," said Caffro.
Traffic Sergeant for St. Pete Police, Michael Schade, said last year, St. Pete had nearly 30 fatal crashes.
"That's 30 too many and we are doing everything we can to try to minimize that," he said.
And that's exactly what departments all over the state are trying to do.
Police departments will be working together with FDOT on a program called Enhanced Law Enforcement Engagement.
Police will be more present on state roads with a history of high crash rates.
"In a couple of weeks we will be on U.S. 19 from the Hernando County line all the way down to the Sunshine Skyway," said Schade.
Police officers will also be traveling to schools to educate students about safe driving.
The program will continue through February 2026.
"I think the more that they can utilize different departments that can help each other, that's a team effort. That's the way it should be," said Gamez.
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