GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Speeding and reckless driving are two of the top complaints Green Bay officials hear from residents and there are currently two proposals being discussed to try to help make streets safer.
Green Bay Police issued 1,931 speeding citations last year, an average of more than five per day. However, many say more can still be done to curb the issue.
“Everybody complains about it,” said Alderperson Craig Stevens. “You hear it, we hear it, speeding seems to be an issue.”
Stevens has proposed changing city ordinance to allow for traffic calming measures after a request from developer Garritt Bader. The measures have been known to include speed bumps or hills, reduced street width, and specific traffic configurations. City staff is researching the request and will present information as early as next month.
“Communities are trying them now and they seem to be working,” said Stevens. “Currently we’re not doing any of that.”
Another proposal in the works is an ordinance allowing the city to impound the vehicles of repeat reckless drivers.
“It’s another tool we can use for those people who just chronically can’t seem to get the message that you need to be safe on the roads,” said Green Bay Police Chief Chris Davis.
While police say the ordinance would help, Chief Davis estimates the city would only impound 6 to 12 vehicles a year.
For a vehicle to be impounded, the driver being cited would have to own it, they’d also have to have a prior reckless driving conviction and have not fully paid the fine for it.
“By the time you get to where you’ve been convicted of reckless driving already and you still haven’t paid off the fines and you choose to go out and engage in reckless driving activity, to us that seemed like a pretty fair and pretty clear place to draw the line,” said Davis while acknowledging it needs to be strategic because people use their vehicle to attend school or work.
The new ordinance has received an initial approval from the city council, with a final vote expected to happen next month.
State law was changed last year to allow communities the opportunity to impound vehicles for reckless drivers.
Green Bay issued 98 reckless driving citations last year.
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