Warsaw Police Working To Reduce Speed-Related Injuries & Fatalities
Warsaw Police Working To Reduce Speed-Related Injuries & Fatalities
Posted
Staff Report-
Warsaw Police Working To Reduce Speed-Related Injuries & FatalitiesRecently, officers with the Warsaw Police Department worked a new enforcement detail in the area called the Visible Speed Enforcement Teams Grant, or VSET.
This grant is funded by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and offered to officers to work above and beyond normal duty hours. Typically, officers will work these before or after a shift, so concentration is solely on the purpose of the grant work, according to a news release from WPD Public Information Officer Capt. Brad Kellar.
The intent of this grant is to reduce injuries and fatalities of crashes related to speed; an enforcement project designed to supplement the efforts of Click it To Live It, which is the primary occupant protection program for the state of Indiana. This project is intended to decrease speed-related crashes, fatalities and injuries as well as increase compliance with speed-related laws in our state.
This project uses a spotter utilizing handheld lasers in a fixed position along the roadway. The spotter identifies vehicles exceeding posted speed and radios that vehicle to multiple officers awaiting at a predetermined location. Warsaw officers worked this as a team of four. During a four-hour stretch late last week, 29 citations were issued for speed offenses, with the majority of those logged between 15 and 20 miles over the posted speed limits. Officers worked various locations along U.S. 30 to include eastbound and westbound in the area between Meijer Drive and Springhill Road, as well as westbound traffic on the east side approaching the city limits. In addition to speed citations, officers also made a criminal drug arrest during this detail, the news release states.
Some of the requirements of the VSET program are that officers must work with a minimum of three officers at a time, must focus on “speed-related” offenses and spotter-type enforcement is preferred. Enforcement areas are limited to interstate highways, state roads and U.S. routes, or local/city roads that are multi-directional and have multiple lanes in each direction with a divided center, such as grass or concrete island.
Warsaw officers plan to work additional details involving the use of double the manpower soon. This project is slated to run until Sept. 30. WPD encourages all to be mindful of careful driving along U.S. 30 this summer. Within the rural areas, the speed limit is 60 mph. However, as you approach the city limits, those limits decrease all the way to 45 mph due to the traffic lights and congestion.
In conjunction with OPO enforcement, Warsaw Police will continue to offer overtime to officers to enforce all laws along U.S. 30 in the city throughout the summer.
