Rusk County Urges, “Pay Attention East Texas”

HENDERSON — Fatal accidents are becoming a regular occurence in the city of Henderson.and in Rusk County. Henderson Fire Department Captain Cody Crawford tells KETK, “We’ve seen at least a double in fatality wrecks in the last year and a half to two years.” Since January, 20 people have died in car accidents on Rusk County roads — four in the last two weeks. Crawford and his crew are usually the first on scene of a wreck. And he says there have been many more fatal crashes this year than in years past.

County Judge Joel Hale and other county leaders have called meetings to address this issue. Now they plan to implement the mission from an organization called “Pay Attention East Texas.” According to Hale, “Their mission is something that we will adopt, and we’re still in the process of how we are going to get the word out, and how we are going to disseminate information to people.”

Pay Attention East Texas promotes a safe driving environment through public education and safety awareness, focusing on distractions, speed, inexperience, and impairments. And Captain Crawford says this is what the county needs. He says key focuses are to “drive safe, don’t text and drive, try not to talk on the phone and drive, try to pay attention to the road.” Judge Hale says officials will have as many meetings as it takes to help promote Pay Attention East Texas to try and change people’s attitudes about driving safely. The next meeting will be this Thursday in Henderson, at the Henderson Federal Savings and Loan Bank at 1 p.m.