New traffic units take to the highways of White County

CLEVELAND - The White County Sheriff's Office just added two new patrol vehicles to its traffic unit.

Sheriff Neal Walden says he hopes those units will stand out and get the attention of the public and help slow them down. The new Dodge vehicles have been on the roads just more than a week and Walden says this is a model change for the department and they want to compare these to the regular Ford vehicles they have purchased in the past.

The new patrol vehicles have a totally different look compared to the other vehicles in the department's fleet and Walden says he's not looking at changing the look for the other vehicles.

"I'm just going to distinguish them, hold them out different from the other vehicles," Walden says. "There won't be any changes to the others. We're out there to slow the public down and be more visible. I think it will key the public in to, 'hey, there's those traffic units - we better slow down,'" Walden says.

According to Walden, in the past speed has played a big factor in fatal accidents in the county and this is another attempt to get the motorists' attention and slow them down.

Jared Baker and Charles Brantley are the officers who will be using the new vehicles. Both say they like the vehicles.

"So far it drives real good," Baker says. "It's smooth, it handles real well. I think it's going to have an improved gas mileage from what I'm seeing."

Brantley says his new car had turned a lot of heads.

"Oh yes, oh yes, when you pass people driving by or other vehicles that you pass on the roadway people are really turning their heads," Brantley says. "It's really catching their eye."