Maple Grove Police are making traffic safety a major priority this year.
According to Police Chief Eric Werner, "We heard from our citizens a number of years ago that rated traffic problems, like running red lights, distracted driving and speeding as one of the top priorities within the city."
And that's why, at the beginning of this year the City of Maple Grove created a dedicated, traffic enforcement unit. So how's it going so far?
Werner says, "Fantastic! Actually we have one officer who's very excited about traffic, that we've been able to put into the position right away, based on his history and his initiatives to work on traffic."
Officer Justin Smith adds, "I do an assortment of different types of traffic enforcement, sometimes I'm running radar and lidar on the highways or the local streets, sometimes I'm looking for red light violations, sometimes looking for distracted driving, people using their cell phones, and then other times I'm just being proactive and seeing what else is going on in the city."
And all of these efforts are to ensure one goal above all, as Chief Werner says, "We're sending a message to the community that we've heard you, and we're gonna make sure that when you drive within our city, that it's a safe place to commute, or just travel in general. So we're making sure that our roadways are safe and that our citizens are safe in our neighborhoods."
And to help keep those roadways safe Maple Grove Police have a new tool to help catch red light violators; a Blue Light that helps officers know when a stop light turns red.
Werner says, "The blue light allows an officer to strategically park in a location that once they recognize a violator they're in a position where they can go after that violator without traveling thru the intersection, jeopardizing their safety and the safety of other vehicles that are on the road."
For more information about the Maple Grove Police Department go to www.MapleGroveMN.gov/Departments/Police.
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17 авг 2024