Drivers not wearing seatbelts were the focus of a special Hanford police operation on Friday afternoon, which led to more than 40 traffic citations being issued in a four-hour period.
"From our perspective, our goal is to go out on these enforcement details and have maybe zero citations to give out," Traffic Officer Mitch Smith said. "For the most part, our city compliance level is good, but it is not where the state wants it to be given our population."
Every year, the Hanford Police Department conducts a seatbelt survey to see how close the city is to state-suggested compliance numbers.
The Office of Traffic Safety prefers that 96 percent of drivers in an area the size of Hanford drive with their seatbelt on, while the actual number has hovered around 92 percent this year, according to Smith.
Officers were monitoring the intersection of 10th Avenue and Grangeville Boulevard between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Friday looking for seatbelt violations.
"From our perspective, our goal is to go out on these enforcement details and have maybe zero citations to give out," Traffic Officer Mitch Smith said. "For the most part, our city compliance level is good, but it is not where the state wants it to be given our population."
Every year, the Hanford Police Department conducts a seatbelt survey to see how close the city is to state-suggested compliance numbers.
The Office of Traffic Safety prefers that 96 percent of drivers in an area the size of Hanford drive with their seatbelt on, while the actual number has hovered around 92 percent this year, according to Smith.
Officers were monitoring the intersection of 10th Avenue and Grangeville Boulevard between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Friday looking for seatbelt violations.
"We've done these in other areas in the past, but 10th and Grangeville is a good, well-traveled corridor leading in and out of the city," Smith said. "Our four-hour detail was able to get a pretty good gauge of how many people were abiding by the law there."
This detail was funded by a grant issued by the Office of Traffic Safety as part of their statewide Click It or Ticket campaign.
"This is probably our third operation like this in the last six months and I'm seeing the compliance numbers go up to where they need to be," Smith said. "For the most part, people were pretty receptive when we pulled them over. They recognized that they weren't wearing their seatbelts and pretty much said, 'you got me.'"
The reporter can be reached at 583-2425.
(June 15, 2009)
This detail was funded by a grant issued by the Office of Traffic Safety as part of their statewide Click It or Ticket campaign.
"This is probably our third operation like this in the last six months and I'm seeing the compliance numbers go up to where they need to be," Smith said. "For the most part, people were pretty receptive when we pulled them over. They recognized that they weren't wearing their seatbelts and pretty much said, 'you got me.'"
The reporter can be reached at 583-2425.
(June 15, 2009)
No comments:
Post a Comment