Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home Police Department will spend time in the upcoming months addressing traffic issues in the downtown area, and next year’s budget will include funding for four new automated speed monitoring devices and reader boards.
City staff and council members have heard several complaints about downtown traffic in recent months, said City Manager Ray Towry during the City Council’s regular meeting on March 12.
The Police Department has been gathering data, and it has secured grant funding for several traffic enforcement efforts, said Sgt. Jason Van Eck. The data gathering was hindered by a malfunctioning radar trailer, but that has been fixed and gathering data recently.
Van Eck provided several pages of statistics for Main Street between Napa Auto Parts and 18th avenues at various times during the day. The speed limit is 25 mph in the area.
From 4 to 5 a.m. on Feb. 11, a Monday, looking at westbound in the 1300 block of Main Street, 88 out of 112 vehicles traveled at less than 25 mph. Of those exceeding the speed limit, 21 were traveling at 30 mph or slower. The maximum speed recorded was 40 to 45 mph.
From 3 to 4 a.m., the trailer recorded 430 vehicles traveling 25 mph or slower, while 122 exceeded the speed limit. Of those exceeding the speed limit, 101 were traveling at 30 mph or less and 19 at 35 mph or less. One vehicle was recorded at 40 to 45 mph, and one was traveling between 46 and 50 mph.
In eastbound traffic in front of the old T&M Pizza building, in the 1100 block of Main, from 5 to 6 p.m. on Jan. 28, a Monday, 1,283 vehicles were traveling at 25 mph or slower. Traveling faster than 25 mph were 624 vehicles. Of those, 485 were traveling between 26 mph and 30 mph, and 126 were between 31 and 35 mph. Thirteen vehicles were traveling between 36 mph and 40 mph.
In front of Safeway, in the 1500 block of Main, among westbound traffic between 4 and 5 p.m. on Feb. 6, a Wednesday, the majority of vehicles were speeding. Just 92 were traveling at 25 mph or slower, while 533 were traveling faster. Of those traveling faster, 197 were traveling at 30 mph or slower and 223 were between 31 and 35 mph. Ninety-five were clocked between 36 and 40 mph, and 17 were between 40 and 45 mph. One driver traveled faster, between 46 and 50 mph.
Van Eck had 16 hours of data at various points. Among them, 10 had a majority of drivers traveling below the speed limit, while in six samples the majority of drivers were speeding. Of those six samples, two were nearly 50-50. In all samples, nearly all drivers were traveling at 30 mph or less.
“It really looks to me like the speeds were on average in the 25 mph range,” Van Eck said. The problem with the radar trailer, in terms of data collection, “is people are on their best behavior when they’re out.”
Based on his observations, he said, “there’s a problem with speeding. There’s also a problem with distracted driving.”
He has seen people making phone calls, texting and even reading books while driving, he said. The Police Department also has heard a number of complaints about drivers not yielding at crosswalks.
Coming up, Van Eck said, the department will run a crosswalk enforcement operation. The department will set up cones on the highway while a volunteer pedestrian uses the crosswalk. Drivers who are outside of the coned area should be able to safely stop for the pedestrian.
Drivers who do not stop when they are supposed to will be stopped by officers who are standing by.
The department isn’t looking to trick anybody, Van Eck said. The volunteer will wear a bright orange vest, and the cones are orange.
Once stopped, officers may issue a citation or warning, but in general, they will educate drivers about crosswalks.
Sweet Home’s policy is to warn rather than cite if an officer believes that is sufficient to change illegal driving behavior, Van Eck said. The goal is to change driving behavior and not to write tickets.
Van Eck said he would like to see Sweet Home get flashing crosswalk lights, like the crosswalk across Highway 20 in front of Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital in Lebanon.
The date for the crosswalk event is not set yet, Van Eck said. In May, the department will conduct overtime patrols focused on seatbelts and children riding in the beds of pickups.
No one younger than 18 is allowed to ride in the bed of a pickup, Van Eck said. The focus is established by the grant that funds the overtime.
The department will provide additional information prior to the focused patrols and crossswalk operation, Van Eck said.
“Everybody at the department is trying to focus more on traffic,” Van Eck said. A few years ago, the department had a couple of officers who focused on traffic. Shorthanded after staffing changes, the department had fewer officers and stopped focusing as much on traffic. The number of traffic stops fell by more than half.
Recently, the numbers have been picking up, Van Eck said. It’s not as much as when the department had a traffic team, but it’s more than it has been.
“One of the problems in the downtown area, we’ve got a lot more traffic now than we used to,” Van Eck said. That makes turning around and catching someone harder.
To gather better data about traffic behavior, “I’ve been working with Dominic Valloni (maintenance superintendent) and Greg Springman (Public Works Director). We’ve been looking at some portable radar reader boards.”
The boards track and display speed, and they can be set to flash when drivers exceed a preset level, Van Eck said. They’re effective.
He came across one in Reedsport recently, Van Eck said. “To be honest, they went off. I slowed down. Sometimes we need a flashing light. We’re hoping it’s the ones in front of us, not behind us.”
The boards also may operate in stealth mode, gathering data while appearing to be off.
They’re easy to move around to different areas when the department is receiving complaints, Van Eck said, and the department can use the data to determine where to focus patrols.