Lakeland Police officers from our Traffic Section conducted enhanced enforcement activity on Memorial Day yesterday as part of the nationwide "Click It or Ticket" campaign. The following results speak for themselves.
We continue to urge drivers and passengers to buckle up, slow down, and quite possibly safe a life.
- Asst Chief Bill LePere
I saw a couple of tweets and retweets on Twitter today in which the authors were advising followers where the police were engaged in traffic enforcement. Okay, our use of the term "traffic enforcement" was called "speed traps" or "hidden speed patrol" by others, but you get the picture. Social media was being used to get the word out to drivers to slow down in these areas because police officers were doing their jobs.
We appreciate the help in getting drivers to slow down.
Our goal in conducting speed enforcement or catching drivers running red lights is not to write massive amounts of tickets (really, it's not). We consider it a successful day when everyone driving through the area obeys the speed limit or stops at traffic signals so we cannot write a single ticket. To think that social media might be another tool to reduce speeds, prevent crashes, and save lives is a novel way forTwitter, Facebook, and other forms of social media to help a police department (or other government agency) spread the word and improve the quality of life in our community.
Regretfully, there are still enough non-Twitter users out there that our officers stay fairly busy writing speeding tickets all day long. Maybe one day...
- Asst Chief Bill LePere
No one could have predicted the unplanned impact at the start of this morning's seat belt initiative at Lakeland High School. As TV crews were setting up to broadcast live from the scene, a traffic crash occurred on Bartow Hwy at the entrance to LHS. A student coming to school made a left turn in front of oncoming traffic and collided with another car, which had the right of way.
Once things settled down a bit, a total of 34 traffic citations were issued by LPD officers, with 30 of those for seat belt violations.
Now you may ask if 30 seat belt violations is good or bad - and I will tell you it depends. We issued a higher number of citations during some previous initiatives, so perhaps the educational efforts to buckle up are working. On the other hand, even one violation is one too many. Our goal was to write zero citations, but no such luck today.
And the real irony of the day - the young driver who caused this morning's crash...well he wasn't wearing his seat belt at the time either.
- Asst Chief Bill LePere
In case you missed the announcement yesterday on our media release blog, the Lakeland Police Department is planning a "Seat Belt Initiative" at Lakeland High School on Friday, February 13, 2009, from 6:30 AM - 8:00 AM. The school is located at 726 Lake Hollingsworth Road.
The initiative includes advance educational efforts to inform students of the dangers associated with not wearing a seat belt and the requirement of Florida law for drivers and passengers to be properly restrained. The educational campaign is then followed by an enforcement effort to catch violators who refuse to wear a seat belt. We expect several media outlets will be at the school Friday morning to observe the operation.
Many young lives are lost each year during traffic crashes where drivers and passengers were not wearing proper seat belts. Our goal is to save lives through education first and enforcement second.
Save a life - buckle up every time you drive or ride in a car.
- Asst Chief Bill LePere
The Knights of Columbus sponsored their annual Public Safety Awards dinner this past weekend, giving recognition and honors to law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel who have performed either heroic acts or exceptional service above the call of duty.
Lakeland Police Officer Sean Finney received the Lakeland Police Officer of the Year Award from the Knights of Columbus for his efforts to make over 1,000 DUI arrests while assigned to the DUI Enforcement Unit.
Officer Finney receiving his award
While Officer Finney is to be commended for the quality cases he makes, it is worth noting that he goes far beyond the day to day work of arresting impaired drivers. In addition to being a certified Drug Recognition Expert, he is a peer leader in the DUI Unit who serves as a trainer to ensure new DUI officers receiving the initial training required of this difficult and challenging assignment. He continually receives annual recognition by Mothers Against Drunk Driving for his efforts.
We congratulate Officer Finney on receiving this award and thank him for his unwavering commitment to removing impaired drivers from our roadways. It is impossible to calculate how many lives he has saved by his tireless efforts to keep Lakeland safe.
- Asst Chief Bill LePere
The practice of talking or texting on our cell phones while driving is a common occurrence, though a dangerous one that admittedly nearly everyone with a cell phone does today. I regret to say that I am no different from the masses when it comes to this matter.
The National Safety Council recently called for a nationwide ban on cell phone use while driving. While only a handful of states ban any type of cell phone use by drivers and a few more ban teenagers from talking on cell phones while driving, Florida does not restrict the practice (some may call it an art).
A recent study by the Harvard Center of Risk Analysis estimates using cell phones while driving contributed to 6% of crashes. We do not have specific figures for the Lakeland area. You can learn more about this matter, including a fact sheet, data resources and other relevant information from the NSC website at www.distracteddriving.nsc.org.
The study also found that a significant amount of vehicular cell phone use is business-related and some businesses are now restricting cell phone use while on the job. We currently do not restrict our employees from using cell phones while driving.
I am curious if you believe Florida should implement a statewide ban on cell phone use while driving or if employers should take the lead and restrict their employees from using cell phones while driving on the job. What are your thoughts?
- Asst Chief Bill LePere
The Lakeland City Commission gave final approval today for a contract to proceed with installation of red light cameras (RLC) around the city. The installation should begin around the first of the year and proceed in various phases.
We continue to get occasional letters and e-mails from people who support the RLC concept and from those opposed to these cameras. The reasons for support or opposition remain fairly constant - folks either want to prevent crashes caused by people running red lights or they want to avoid having "big brother" watch them driving around town.
I believe it is worth repeating here - the easiest and most effective way to avoid getting a citation or infraction notice from us is to simply not run red lights. You would think this is easy for drivers to do, but we know different.
Time will tell if the cameras change driver behaviors. We think they will and look forward to working with them once they get installed.
What do you think?
- Asst Chief Bill LePere
We are pleased to be able to report the number of traffic crashes in 2008 continues to run well below the three previous years. The chart and data table below illustrate this positive trend. The dark blue line at the bottom of the chart is 2008 data.
- Asst Chief Bill LePere
Lakeland is experiencing a decline in the number of traffic crashes over the past couple of years. This may be the result of safer drivers, enhanced traffic enforcement, or more recently less driving due to the high cost of gasoline. Whatever is causing the reduction to occur, we are grateful for it.
Even with these reductions, Lakeland PD investigates thousands of crashes each year. Many of these occur at "frequent-flier" locations, meaning we have well known intersections throughout the city with a high number of crashes. Our traffic officers, when not investigating crashes or monitoring neighborhood speeding complaints, spend time at these high-crash intersections.
But what about the "big picture" - how does the overall layout of crash locations throughout Lakeland look on a map? Glad you asked because here is a pin map (in PDF format) showing the locations of all crashes for 2008.
Any of these along routes you commonly drive during the day?
- Asst Chief Bill LePere
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