When the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure (NDOT) proposed a speed limit reduction on Lebanon Road, Metro Councilmember Jeff Eslick said the real problem is that the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) does not enforce the current speed limit.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — When the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure (NDOT) proposed a speed limit reduction on Lebanon Road, Metro Councilmember Jeff Eslick said the real problem is that the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) does not enforce the current speed limit.
“People are not adhering to the laws anymore,” Eslick said. “There seems to be no fear for being pulled over.”
Eslick told News 2 the number one complaint he gets from his constituents in District 11 is concerns over speeding. In one Facebook post, he compared the roads to the “Wild, Wild West.”
News 2 pulled traffic stop data from MNPD, which shows a 45 percent drop in traffic stops compared to this same time in 2019. Eslick said that what worries him is the increase in traffic deaths while the number of traffic stops decreases.
“I’m hoping police will get back to the way we used to do it. There were police officers doing radar stops,” Eslick said. “There were people being pulled over where you could see it and there was that fear where if you did speed, you would get pulled over.”
A spokesperson for the MNPD shared data with News 2 that showed that the number of traffic stops increased in District 11 and traffic deaths countywide have gone down each year since 2022. MNPD said that so far this year, 24 pedestrians have been killed in traffic fatalities compared to 48 pedestrians in 2022.
MNPD previously shared data for traffic stops for the first three quarters of this year compared to the prior two years:
In 2024, MNPD has reported 631 stops, including 229 warnings, 394 citations and 21 arrests
In 2023, MNPD reported 362 stops, including 142 warnings, 212 citations and 16 arrests
In 2022, MNPD reported 431 stops, including 116 warnings, 308 citations and 21 arrests
Eslick also alleged that only officers in the traffic division make traffic stops. An MNPD spokesperson pushed back, saying that any officer can make a traffic stop.
Eslick said that he won’t stop pushing for more enforcement “until it is taken more seriously” and ahs asked people to share their concerns as well.