Cruisin’ the Coast Wrap Up

Another exciting year for Cruisin’ the Coast is already in the rearview mirror, but some residents have a lasting reminder of the year’s event.
As News 25’s Kristen Durand reports, local law enforcement officers take a much deserved break after upping patrols on busy roads.
Former South Mississippi dispatcher Megan Chatman knows all too well how the switchboard lights up even more than usual during Cruisin’ the Coast, but this year, she was the one making the call after she was rear-ended on Highway 90 by a ’71 Cougar. “He wasn’t very apologetic,” said Chatman, “He was just like ‘oh, man, stuff happens.’ And I was like ‘yeah, now I’m going to be late for work.”
This record 20th anniversary year drove lots of tourism and excitement to our Coast, but it is law enforcement who felt the growing pains. The Biloxi Police Department says traffic stops were up 68 percent this week with crashes up 71 percent. Captain Harold Windom with Biloxi PD said, “About 68 percent up on the traffic citations, traffic stops. There were a lot of warnings given. There was a lot more traffic stops and there was a lot of people burning out the tires.”
That is evidenced by the amount of tire marks now covering Highway 90. It’s a trick law enforcement officials say will rev up the crowd, but is not worth threatening their safety. “We had one in Biloxi. Lost control trying to do a burnout and went off onto the sand. No one was hurt. The car was a little damaged. Gulfport had a different scenario. They actually had people injured. It’s fine and wonderful and there’s a place for it, but on Highway 90 with a whole bunch of folks standing right next to you is not the place.”
Things also intensified for Coast fire departments. With Biloxi Fire seeing a 40 percent volume call increase and Gulfport’s up by ten percent last week, including an usually high number of car fires.
Law enforcement leaders say next year they plan to rev up local efforts to get more information out there to Cruisers while cracking down on burn outs, a good path to take according to local residents. “I think that the police officers here do a great job at actually containing it. I think if maybe Cruisers were more aware of the residents, that’d be great,” said Chatman.