The New Year is almost here...
As part of the Cumberland Crackdown, state troopers and police officers will have multiple checkpoints to make sure no one's taking a vacation from the laws this holiday season.
Law enforcement officials will be out Friday night through New Year's day to encourage a safe start to 2013...
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1,000 people lost their lives in 2012 along Tennessee roads.
Talon Humphreys was almost among that number.
His mother, Lori, says her son died March 3rd...
"Talon stopped breathing. He had crushed his trachea during the wreck and literally tore his nose from his face so he had aspirated all the blood and stopped breathing."
Friday, she and the son she calls a 'miracle child' joined law enforcement officials to kick off the Cumberland Crackdown and send a message they hope will save lives.
"Talon was headed to baseball practice and wasn't wearing his seatbelt. His crash he was only doing 32 miles an hour."
Ms. Humphreys says 18 year old Talon had been driving a month and a day when he got behind the wheel that life-changing day.
"Every bone in his face was broken. He's got plates in his face. He's got disabilities on his right side now, and most of all he has a traumatic brain injury. And that's from taking the impact at 32 miles an hour."
Ms. Humphrey says no one is really sure what caused Talon's wreck. There's no record of him texting or using alcohol.
As for the high number fatalities that did prove fatal in 2012, Brian Hickman, Collegedale Chief of Police, says nearly 40 percent are alcohol related.
Hickman says the Cumberland Crackdown is an effort to keep roads safe... During the time of year when parties and traffic increase.
"People tend to ring in the New Year with parties, and unfortunately drinking and driving has been a part of that."
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Again those will continue through New Year's day.
And those are No Refusal checkpoints.
No one wants you to be number 1001.
Reporting Live in the studio, Brittany Shaw, WDEF News 12.
