Local officers issue 58 tickets in 12-hour period
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff writer
In the City of Burlington police log Tuesday, there seemed to be an abnormally large number of seatbelt violations being recorded – in fact, several whole pages were dedicated to them.
The reason? Thanks to a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, city police are now stepping up the “Click It or Ticket” campaign.
The grant, in the amount of $25,000, was received Oct. 25. About $20,000 of the money is going for officer overtime to enforce seat belt violations and other traffic violations, with the remaining $5,000 going for a new light bar and computer for one of the department’s squad cars.
Police Chief Peter Nimmer called the grant a “targeted grant” – meaning that the city was notified it was eligible for the grant. The city then applied – and received the grant money.
Just how helpful were the funds? The city issued 58 tickets for seat belt violations in a span of 12 hours through Friday and Saturday – six hours spent each day.
Nimmer said the goal isn’t necessarily to issue violations, however.
“Our goal during ‘Click It or Ticket’ and for the rest of the year and next year is not to write more tickets,” Nimmer said, “but to convince drivers and passengers to buckle up every trip, every time.
“All too often when responding to a crash, our officers find people killed or seriously injured because they were not buckled up,” Nimmer added. “That’s why we’re serious about safety belt enforcement.”
The fine for failing to buckle up is $10.
Among the casualties in the last year involving lack of a seat belt was Tim Johnson, who died last month from injuries suffered when he was thrown from his vehicle after hitting a truck on Highway 11. Johnson was driving drunk at the time, but he was also not wearing a seat belt.
That is just one example. Nimmer said Tuesday that he was surprised with the number of tickets issued.
“It’s troublesome to believe that we issued 58 tickets in 12 hours,” Nimmer said. “Clearly people in this area are not buckled up. And our goal is to get them buckled up.”
City of Burlington Administrative Services Manager Kim Hardesty said the grant is for 12 months, and enforcement will be out each month.
“We will vary the times and dates,” she explained.
In the meantime, Nimmer is happy with how things are going.
“The officers were very aggressive with their enforcement,” he explained. “They will continue to be aggressive with their enforcement. But the goal is to gain compliance.
“It really is for people to buckle up.”
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