RCSO restructuring traffic division to make roads safer - WFXG FOX54 Augusta - Your News One Hour Earlier

Richmond Co. Deputy Jason Singletary has worked traffic for the Sheriff's Office since 1999.

Now, with a new sheriff in town, Singletary is seeing some changes in his division.

The Sheriff's Office is looking to curb the high number of traffic fatalities that plagues Richmond County in 2012.

The county saw 42 traffic related deaths, one of the highest totals in Georgia.

One way they plan to make Augusta roadways safer is by better managing their resources, increasing deputy presence during heavy traffic hours.\

"You don't have a lot of traffic on the road at 3:00 in the morning, so why have the same amount of manpower?" says Lt. Amelio Lamkin. "We're taking the manpower and allocating it to when we're having those problems."

Lamkin was brought in by Sheriff Roundtree to head up the newly restructured traffic division after a decade of service with the Georgia State Patrol.

He's bringing several GSP strategies with him, including analyzing 2012 data to identify problem areas, such as Mike Padgett Hwy and Bobby Jones Expy.

"Where the fatalities are happening, where the injuries are happening, where the speeding complaints are, where we're getting all that data from," Lamkin says. "We're going to be patrolling those places at those times."

He says these changes won't just help on the roads, but also in the neighborhoods, where they could help cut down crime.

"If they break in, they have to transport that television from where they stole it," Lamkin says. "A traffic stop may be the way to catch that."

He says the hope is to influence drivers to travel safer, thus making the roadways less dangerous.

"The main thing we're looking for is voluntary compliance," Lamkin says. "We want you to be doing the right thing."

Because if you don't, you may get a ticket from Deputy Singletary.