FARRAGUT, Tenn. (WVLT) – Months after a Knox County Schools student was injured in a hit-and-run, the city of Farragut is taking steps to make the area a little safer.

Previous Coverage: DA claims no charging decisions have been made in Knox County student hit-and-run case

That’s something community members like Joe McBride are happy to see.

“I hope something happens, something positive comes out of this,” McBride said.

Just months after a hit-and-run in Thornton Heights, the city is trying to figure out the best way to help.

“We’re finishing up a study that’s been going on and we’re going to move our equipment to Thornton Heights. We’re actually going to study every single street,” said Farragut Mayor Ron Williams.

The study includes monitors that measure the speed of each car that drives over them.

“Just make sure the speeds are acceptable for the road,” Farragut engineering technician Kevin Manis said.

Special tubes stay on the road for a week and count how many cars pass over them, as well as how fast the drivers drive. It is a good indicator for the city to see where the problem areas are moving forward.

Community members said despite signs and a speed bump, drivers still use the area as a route to Kingston Pike.

“Every single street is going to have speeding advisories, you know who needs speed bumps, who’s fine,” Williams said. “We will also be able to count how many cars do this.”

This study has been collecting data on multiple pathways for weeks now.

“We’ve done two sets each way in this subdivision and we do them all the time,” Manis said. “We’ll have between two and four sets pretty much all the time, but we’ve done Hughland, Farr, Town and Roane.”

People in the area have seen a greater presence of Knox County sheriff’s deputies in the area, but they still hope more will be done.

“I’ve seen more deputies present and then they put the pipes out, I’ve seen people stop and crawl over them,” McBride said. “Then I’ve seen others just flying over them, so I don’t know, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

Copyright 2024 WVLT. All rights reserved.