MOUNT VERNON – Mount Vernon Police Chief Robert Morgan deemed a pilot program that dedicated an officer to traffic patrol a success.
The city handles approximately 600 traffic accidents annually, he said. Most are non-injury fender benders, but the city occasionally has serious accidents.
“Along with that, we get weekly citizen complaints about traffic,” he said.
Many complaints are about speeders in their neighborhoods and worries about kids in those areas. Other complaints are about school zone patrols and commercial trucks in residential neighborhoods.
“Some of that truck off-state route stuff and some of the traffic complaints were driven by the construction we had last year,” Morgan said.
That led the police department to start a three-month trial program that he said was stretched to six months. A dedicated traffic enforcement officer – Patrolman Justin Trowbridge – was assigned.
“He doesn't work normal hours that a regular road officer works,” Morgan said.
Trowbridge’s hours were adjusted from before school is in session until after most daytime workers are at home to ensure it includes school pickup and drop-off times.
In the six months, a marked reduction in complaints has been made by residents. Speeding has been reduced, including in school zones.
An essential aspect of having a dedicated traffic officer is that it allows other officers to concentrate on different calls. The Police Department gets about 14,000 calls a year, Morgan said.
The traffic officer doesn’t just write tickets. He investigates accidents and gives warnings when it’s appropriate, he said.
If staffing allows, another officer may be assigned to the traffic division to work the night shift. That will enable the officer to handle citizen concerns about evening traffic and impaired driving issues.
“The biggest complaint we’ve dealt with for several years is the use of a local street and overweight vehicles through the downtown area as well as up around Chestnut Hill High Street and even outside around Perry Street,” Trowbridge said. “So, emphasis has been put into those areas to make sure that we're addressing those concerns.”
He gets to school zones around 7:30 a.m. when high school and middle school traffic is on city streets. He patrols elementary school zones, though he doesn’t see as many violators near Mansfield, East or Pleasant Street elementary schools. Traffic around Twin Oak Elementary has the biggest issues.
Morgan said that Twin Oak is right off a state route with a 45-mph speed limit in front of it.
“Some of the smaller schools we have that are in the more residential zones that only have 25-mile/hour speed limits and smaller residential streets in front of them are not as prevalent for the speeding violations as the one with the state route right in front,” Morgan said. “So I think that's part of the problem right there.”
Trowbridge is in charge of scheduling the Police Department’s autonomous speed sign, typically stationed for two weeks at a location for the best effect. Morgan said the sign collects data, including speed and how many motorists go by.
In a partnership with the Public Works Department, two more signs have been ordered, but supply chain issues have held them up, he said.
The Public Works and Street departments can make use of the traffic counts.
The easiest way for a resident to request the autonomous speed sign being placed in their neighborhood is to call the Mount Vernon Police Department’s non-emergency number – 740-397-2222 – and ask to speak to the patrol commander. In the future, a traffic complaint link might be posted on the police department’s website, such as a dedicated email address to send complaints.
Trowbridge issued 483 citations from May 3 to Nov. 3 and issued 313 warnings.
That included 58 citations for speeding in a school zone, 203 for speeding in a 25-mph speed zone, seven in 35-mph speed zones, and 39 overweight-vehicle citations.
He investigated 102 non-injury traffic accidents and 15 accidents with injuries.
