Areas are targeted where drivers continually break the rules of the road, officials said.
In 2002, road-related deaths peaked at 16 in Temple. In the same year the Temple police department, under former Chief Ralph M. Evangelous, established a trial traffic unit. The experimental run added four motorcycles dedicated to traffic.
Traffic unit goes to work
By June 2003 the traffic unit was up and running. There were six motorcycles and two cars.
“When our fatality rate went so high, we looked at what methods we needed to take to get it down,” said Sgt. Allen Teston, Temple police department traffic supervisor.
“Our city and our department decided let’s do enforcement, let’s see if that will work. Statistically, we can say enforcement is working for us. Tickets went up and fatalities went down,” he said.
While fatalities have decreased, Teston said, vehicle collisions have risen. “That could be because of an increase in the population,” he said.
Collisions up but deaths down
“What I am proud of is that we have had these increases in number of collisions but in 2006 and 2007 we have a decrease in fatalities. I think we can attribute that to a reduction of speed. That to me is a big statement,” he said.
But, Teston isn’t one to fool himself. “It can take one major accident on I-35 to blow that number out of the water,” he said.
But, targeting certain areas seems to be working for the traffic unit.
Minding construction zones
“They have made it a personal goal of theirs that they keep their enforcement up in construction zones so that nobody has to say a construction worker in our city died because of a speeder or reckless driver in a construction zone,” Teston said.
Other targets include Interstate 35 for speeding, and red light and stop sign runners anywhere. It is violations like these that can cause collisions, Teston said. Add to that speed and you get collisions with injuries.
Then add in tailgating and the chance for injuries increases. Teston noted that the police are evolving with the help of technology. “Something new that we got this year is a laser that will measure time and distance.”
This radar measures the speed of the first car, the speed of the second car and then it automatically works out how far the car behind is to the car in front.
“We have always seen this but now we have actual scientific data to prove they are driving too close,” Teston said. This has led to an increase on the interstate of “following too closely” tickets.
Police offer some simple advise for avoiding tickets and keeping the streets safe.
“Slow down, leave earlier. Speeding along a highway isn’t going to get you there any quicker,” said Officer Joseph Fiedler, who reconstructs collisions for the Temple police department.
