Woodstock PD February traffic initiative

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
February 17, 2011

The traffic focus of the Woodstock Police Department in February is violations of center lane usage and medians in Woodstock.

Woodstock Police probably don't have a ticket quota, but maybe they should have one. If they did, they could meet it easily in several locations on northbound Route 47. One of them is from the Citgo station by Burger King to the bp station at the light by McDonald's. Another is in front of the Shell station (just south of Wendy's), where drivers blast past stopped cars to enter the left turn lane at the light at Judd St./Irving Ave. I have seen northbound violators as far south as the front of Ace Hardware.

The problem is, while an officer is writing one ticket, five-to-ten more violations occur. Would a solution be a change in traffic laws and use of mobile photo enforcement? You know - a Big Brother approach? (I can hear the screams already.) Big Brother just catches the violators, so what's the problem with that?

Change the laws to make the vehicle owner also responsible for the operation of his vehicle, and then just mail the ticket and attached video to the owner of the vehicle. Post it; enforce it; and watch the violations drop off. Result? Safer roads for all of us.

It's working with red-light cameras. Why not expand the use to center-lane violators?