GREEN BAY, Wis. (NBC 26) — Green Bay police are coming up with an effort to take on speeding in the city.
The police department announced Wednesday — in a partnership with Green Bay Neighborhood Associations — a "Community Speed Watch" program.
In a perfect world, speeding wouldn't be an issue especially in the area you live in.
"Over the 30 years or so that I've lived in this neighborhood, the volume of traffic, the speed of traffic gets progressively greater and faster," Fritsch Park Neighborhood Association President Randy Griswold said.
Griswold says generally, speeding isn't too much of an issue in his neighborhood except near West Mason Street and La Count Road on Green Bay's west side.
"If we can slow this down and change this driving pattern lifestyle, even to a small degree, it would be an improvement," Griswold said.
The speed limit on West Mason Street in Griswold's neighborhood is 35 miles per hour. But he says he's seen some drivers go much faster than the speed limit. There is a pedestrian crosswalk at the intersection of West Mason and La Count. However, that crosswalk does not have any lights on it.
"There's been a couple of instances over the last year or so where I've come close to getting hit," Griswold said.
Green Bay police say the hope of the program is to bring more awareness to speeding.
"One of our number one complaints in the city of Green Bay is traffic and the way people drive," Lt. Nate Allen said. "It's just a way to get them (the Neighborhood Associations) a little more involved in our communities, another set of eyes for us."
Allen — who is helping lead the initiative — says officers will train Neighborhood Association volunteers to observe and report any potential traffic violations.
"We want to participate in the "Community Speed Watch" program as a Neighborhood Association," Griswold said.
If a driver gets caught speeding, Allen says police will send the driver a courtesy letter containing information about their violation. He says the letter would list the time and date of the observation, the recorded speed of the driver, and the speed limit at the location of the violation.
Allen says the letter would not be a warning nor a citation.
"It's more of just asking for compliance," Allen said.
Whether the strategy works remains to be seen.
"We're hopeful," Griswold said.
To help make Griswold's neighborhood safer.
Allen says "Community Speed Watch" has no correlation with the license plate reader cameras that were installed last month.
