New police officer helps to boost traffic stats

April 19, 2006

Boosted by a $215,000 grant received last year, the Petaluma Police Department's Traffic Unit issued more citations and reported fewer collisions during the first three months of 2006, said Traffic Sgt. Tim Lyons.

From Jan. 1 to March 31, police made 100 DUI arrests, compared with 83 during the same period last year. Also, traffic citations from 3-8 p.m. increased from 370 in 2005 to 503 in 2006 and traffic collisions fell from 242 to 224. Overall traffic citations during the first quarter rose from 1,606 to 2,100.

The grant was used partially to hire a new traffic motorcycle officer to strengthen evening traffic-enforcement staffing, and Lyons feels this has helped to improve the first-quarter statistics.

In May, the Traffic Unit will participate in a Seat Belt Compliance Campaign that will provide over 370 hours of overtime for officers to conduct seat belt enforcement. The Traffic Unit is hoping to reduce injuries in vehicle collisions by raising the city's seat belt compliance rate to 95 percent, Lyons said.