Lubbock Police Chief Greg Stevens is working on revamping the traffic enforcement division unit which closed down in late February.
Chief Stevens unveiled the plans that will enforce speeding, red light violations and factors that lead to deadly crashes.
“It’s kind of astounding how many people speed,” said Chief Stevens.
According to Chief Stevens Marsha Sharp and I-27 has one of Lubbock’s highest ratio crash intersections, with a large number of fatalities.
Chief Stevens said he wants the unit to target three major issues: traffic enforcement, DWI’s and aggressive drivers.
“People never think about how much speed contributes not just to the cause of accidents, but the severity of accidents and that’s one of the things we really hope to control as we develop new and more innovative ways of traffic enforcement,” said Chief Stevens.
In order to get drivers from pushing the speed limit too far, Chief Stevens said he’ll start with voluntary compliance.
“We will encourage it through verbal warnings, written warnings and then encourage it through traffic citations,” he said during a ride along.
Lubbock Police Department aims to lower DWI’s across the City.
“Find a safe ride,” Chief Stevens said in regards to drunk driving. “It’s not worth it.”
Chief Stevens said he has high hopes the unit will help in tackling aggressive drivers.
“We want to try and prevent traffic violations, that’s our goal rather than respond to them and write a ticket,” he said.
Some traffic issues stem from dangerous intersections like Marsha Sharp and the Interstate or even Clovis road.
Chief Stevens said just having clear visibility makes it safer for all of us on the road.
“You can’t see another car until you’re right here and then it’ll be too late,” he said while driving through an intersection near MSF.
Chief Stevens plans on having the unit up and running by the fall and hopes to implement a strategy to target aggressive drivers later on to the unit.