Bay Area, state agencies teaming up to crack down on speeding, other traffic violations
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - In less than 20 minutes on Tuesday, St. Petersburg Police officers pulled over close to 10 people for speeding on 34th Street.
"It’s just something that we see more prevalent that people are just not following the rules of the road," Sergeant Michael Schade of SPPD’s traffic section, said.
In two weeks, officers have written almost 200 citations for speeding, distracted driving, DUIs and more. 34th Street is included in the Enhanced Law Enforcement Engagement program. It’s a partnership with FDOT in the Tampa Bay Area, FDOT’s District Seven.
"It’s basically a high visibility operation," Schade said. "They want us out on the state roads trying to reduce speed and other types of infractions to reduce the number of serious injury and fatality crashes," he said.
There’s no quota for the number of tickets that officers are expected to write. It’s an education and enforcement operation. Officers also go into schools to talk about the dangers of distracted driving.
An FDOT spokesperson said the high number of crashes caused by speeding or impaired driving caused the agency to start the program that’s in its third year. About 25 local agencies are involved and officers pick areas known for their high number of crashes, speeding and impaired driving to monitor more from July 1, 2024, through March 31, 2025.
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In addition to 34th Street in St. Pete, officers are also increasing their presence near Gandy Boulevard, Roosevelt Boulevard, 4th Street and the Pinellas Bayway.
FDOT said from 2021 to 2023, traffic fatalities dropped by nearly 100 from 603 to 504 across the agencies participating. From Feb. 14, 2022, to Aug. 14, 2022, FDOT said 11,686 citations were issued. From May 1, 2023, to Jan. 6, 2024, 17,001 citations were issued across the participating agencies.
Another one of those agencies is the Pinellas Park Police Department.
"It's crucial," said Sergeant Zachary Huff with the Pinellas Park Police Department. "I just pulled our stats for the last year on those roadways that I had given, we had over 1,100 crashes. As a result of those, four of those were fatalities and 300 resulted in injuries," Huff said.
Huff said officers are expanding their presence on roads like 66th Street South, U.S. Highway 19 North and Park Boulevard.
"I'm currently a traffic homicide investigator, so I've been to these scenes. There were crashes that resulted in death, and I've had to go make contact with the family and notify them that their loved one isn't coming home. You know, with having that in mind and encourage that officer that's on that scene to go out and do traffic enforcement and do education and tell people to slow down," Huff said.
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"Our goal is to have zero crashes. That'll never happen with as many drivers that drive through the city, but each year that we can reduce those numbers and help make citizens safer," Huff said.
FDOT said other districts across the state are looking at District Seven’s program and thinking of adopting it.
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