The Alabama Department of Public Safety has dubbed a stretch of Alabama highway 21 just north of Atmore as an accident “hot spot” this week and has laid out a plan for monitoring traffic in the area.

According to a release from the department, the stretch of highway between the 3.2 and 12.4 mile markers in Escambia County is a “crash-prone stretch of highway” that has been the site for four of the county’s 21 traffic fatalities this year, as well as 64 of the county’s 75 crashes on state roads. Officials said it is a failure to yield right of way that is listed as the most prominent primary contributing factor in the abundance of automobile accidents.

In response to the high number of wrecks, the public safety department launched what they called an aggressive crash reduction program Friday in conjunction with Alabama State Troopers.

According to the release, troopers will be stepping up patrol efforts in the area with both marked and unmarked patrol units, as well as motorcycle units, line patrols, commercial vehicle patrols, felony awareness patrol units and driver license checkpoints. Troopers will also be working closely with law enforcement partners from a number of different state agencies officials said.

“Periodically, the Department of Public Safety will re-evaluate its efforts to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities along this ‘hot spot’ highway and hopes to see that it has made a positive impact along Alabama 21,” the release read. “The department’s goal is always to promote traffic safety.”