TRAPS TO SNARE PARKWAY SPEEDERS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, September 11, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

In a pilot program to crack down on speeding, the state police will set up speed traps at nine points along the Garden State Parkway one day a week, beginning this week.
“The main goal of the program is to have people voluntarily comply with the speed limit, to reduce their speed,” said Capt. Clifford Miller, commander of Troop E, which patrols the 173-mile parkway. “We don’t want to issue speeding summonses. We want them to slow down. ”
Miller said 31 people died in accidents on the parkway between January and August, compared with 27 all of last year. More than 344 million vehicles travel on the parkway each year; about 58,000 speeding tickets were issued on the highway last year, he said.
“Although the parkway is still one of the safest toll roads in the nation, we are aiming at reducing the number of fatal accidents and the number of serious-injury accidents,” Miller said. “We think that by reducing speed and wearing their seat belts,” motorists “can substantially reduce the number of serious accidents. ”
“Operation Slow Down” will be evaluated in three months, and the state police plan to extend it to other highways if it is successful, said Lt. William Hillis, a state police spokesman.
New Jersey has tried a variety of programs to curb speeding on its 34,246 miles of public roads, including enforcement from helicopters, Hillis said. Regular patrols of the parkway and other state highways will continue during the crackdown, he said.
The state police will not announce where the speed traps will be or which day of the week they will be operating, Hillis said. The days and sites of the crackdown will be staggered and will run for 24 hours at a time, he said. Troopers will be using both radar and non-radar equipment to catch speeders, he said.

Keywords: ROAD; NEW JERSEY; POLICE; MOTOR VEHICLE; EQUIPMENT; VIOLATION

Caption: PHOTO – LINDA CATAFFO / THE RECORD – State police are kicking off “Operation Slow Down” this week in an attempt to crack down on speeding on the Garden State Parkway.

ID: 17354846 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)


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