DODGE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – An effort to reduce the amount of serious traffic crashes has been paying off.
That according to Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, whose agency implemented a new crash reduction program in November.
“Identifying locations throughout our county which are high traffic crash areas, putting additional resources in those areas.”
Schmidt notes they’re focusing on six areas.
He says there’s been an increased number of traffic stops, with the threshold for making a stop having decreased.
Schmidt notes he’s heard encouraging returns from the public.
“They’ve gone down from ten over (the speed limit) to maybe only a mile or two over, and any mile an hour reduction that I can get is a win.”
The sheriff says there were 21 traffic fatalities in 2017.
“High incidents of failure to stop at a stop sign (was the leading contributor), whether it was blowing through a stop sign completely or not seeing somebody coming and pulling out in front of them.”
Schmidt notes speed, inattentive driving, and impaired driving were also common factors.
There has only been one death so far this year.
