The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office has rolled out one of its newest tools in the fight to keep the county’s roads safe: a 2016 Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Deputy Chase Trammell is a member of the sheriff’s office Specialized Traffic Enforcement Patrol, a unit under the supervision of the sheriff’s office.
“The purpose of our unit is to reduce the number of crashes that we have by educating the public about the different various traffic laws that are commonly violated,” Trammell said. “Unfortunately, here in Habersham County, we’ve seen an uptick in crashes, and most of them are speed related or related to distracted driving. So, our main focus is curbing those distracted drivers and those speeders and making them, number one, aware of the law and, number two, if the situation warrants issuing a citation for them to appear in court. That way, it kind of sends a message that we’re not going to tolerate it here. We’re trying to save lives and reduce the number of crashes that we’re having in our county and we’re going to do so by whatever means that we need to to make sure that these lives are being saved.”
Trammell, so far, has only spent a few days patrolling on the motorcycle, which he rides during suitable weather.
“Today, I’m riding our 2016 Harley-Davidson Road King,” Trammell said. “The sheriff was kind enough to go out and do a very, very diligent hunt for a motorcycle that was not only cost-effective for our taxpayers but also something that actually works really, really well, that is really, really well put together and well maintained. And it’s something that we can use out here that’s different than that patrol car. Everybody sees the patrol car sitting on the side of the road, and they think, ‘Oh, I better slow down,’ but nobody’s really looking for the motorcycle anymore. And that’s just a new avenue that we’re trying to do to make sure that the people are actually obeying the laws, not just when they see that patrol car sitting on side of the road, but anytime. Our main goal is to gain this voluntary compliance to our Georgia traffic laws and that’s what we aim for is voluntary compliance.”
Trammell said the training he received to be assigned to the motorcycle was some of the most intense yet in his career.
“My personal training – first, I had to go get my motorcycle driver’s license through the Department of Driver Services just like everyone else,” Trammell said. “And then I spent a two-week time period at the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office in their basic motorcycle operator’s course. I’ve done a lot of things in my career. I’m a drug recognition expert. There’s only a few hundred of us in the state of Georgia out of the 58-some-odd-thousand police officers. I’ve also been through all the crash reconstruction classes that the state has to offer and have to take my state certification. But doing this motorcycle course to get this certification was by far one of the more challenging things that I’ve had to do in my law enforcement career.”
Trammell said the motorcycle is not only more maneuverable when trying to catch up to a violator but also can reach wrecks and other incidents through traffic more efficiently because it is smaller and more maneuverable than a conventional patrol vehicle.
