Traffic

Mission Statement

To ensure a safe and efficient traffic commute within our City by resolving hazards that cause traffic accidents and encourage responsible, driving behavior.

Thousands of motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists travel our roadways every day. This presents unique and specialized policing challenges for providing safety, efficient traffic flow, and responsible driver behavior.

The Traffic Unit employs specialized resources to reduce collisions, injuries, and property damage, and works in concert with traffic engineers to determine more efficient roadway design. They analyze collision data, acquire citizen input, perform traffic counts, and receive recommendations from the Traffic Safety Committee and other resources to determine locations to focus their work.

The Department approaches traffic safety on four fronts.

• Educating drivers about hazards and unsafe behavior
• Addressing roadway Engineering and design that influences driver actions
• Enforcing applicable state laws
• Evaluating the strategies and tactics implemented, to determine if the department has been successful in addressing traffic related issues.

Education

Dr. Ives Afely Education is the key to traffic safety. An informed motorist is typically a safe motorist. The officers assigned to the Traffic Division are tasked with giving talks to local civic groups, drivers education classes, and speaking with international students at the college. They are also responsible for assisting TV10 with the production of PSA's featuring Dr. Ives Afely (Drive Safely).

When there are changes in traffic laws, or revisions to street design, the Traffic Unit will reach out through local media, social media, or informational enforcement in an effort to establish safe motoring practices. Check out our Facebook, Instagram, or NextDoor accounts to learn more. 

Engineering

Section & LaVenture crossing Traffic Officers work with the City of Mount Vernon Engineers providing assistance and expertise with traffic flow and traffic calming measures. Input is given when discussing speed zone changes, school zone congestion, and high accident areas.

With a primary focus of reducing injuries and collisions, we commonly perform research on available solutions to prevent such incidents. We have worked in implementing the Kiwanis Spray Park Playground Zone. Restructuring the Centennial School student loading area, creating a larger school safety zone to include MVHS and Immaculate Conception. The city implemented new traffic signals at E Section and Laventure Rd in 2022. 

Enforcement

As a Department, the goal of our traffic enforcement efforts is to prevent collisions, reduce injuries and make roadways safe for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians. While education remains our top priority, enforcement is a necessary component for affecting change in overall driver behavior.

To this end, our Traffic Officers target particular areas that have shown incidents of higher collision rates, higher offender rates and most importantly, areas that generate concerns of our residents. If you have an area within the city that you believe needs attention, please fill out a Traffic Complaint form. These submissions are sent directly to our Traffic Division.

Starting in 2015, our Traffic Division has been performing monthly Directed Traffic Missions. These are dedicated enforcement actions on specific behaviors or areas of the city. Although the areas and focus are listed, the mission can change depending on needs. 

Vehicle Speed Studies

One of our most common neighborhood complaints involves speeding vehicles.  The Department has a variety of tools to address these concerns, including speed measuring radar trailers, covert speed measuring devices, traffic emphasis patrols involving Department volunteers, and directed enforcement by officers.  While our goal is the safety of pedestrians and the motoring public, the best tool to change driver behavior in each situation may be different given the unique circumstances involved.  

How can you help?

To report speeding concerns, or request the radar trailer in your neighborhood please call our office at 360-336-6271 or click on the Traffic Complaint form link in the Enforcement section above.