Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Baxter PD To Move Forward With School Zone Traffic Safety Updates

Baxter Police Department is moving forward with a partnership that will have better monitoring and more accountability for speeding in school zone areas.

Chief Danny Holmes said the partnership was originally approached last year. He said they decided they wanted to move forward to implement the software.

“I get more complaints about people speeding through the school zone than I do about anything here in Baxter,” Holmes said. “And unfortunately, when you only have one officer on duty you can’t cover both school zones, and we just want to keep our children safe.”

Holmes said an estimated 8,600 cars travel in Baxter during school hours. He said that with many children who walk to school, they want to take every measure possible to ensure kids are able to do so safely.

Holmes said the software will utilize cameras to enforce the speed limits, similar to how toll fees work. He said it will take a photo of your vehicle and license plate, and the citation will be mailed to you and to the police department. He said instead of having to pay a $200 fine and it going on your record, it will only be a $50 fee.

“Blue Line Solutions will send a letter home with all the children to let their parents know that we’ve implemented this,” Holmes said. “They’re also going to put a sign out that shows your speed. They want you to slow down, that’s the main purpose for us to partner with them. It’s to have people slow down in those school zones and increase safety (…) I’m just hoping people will slow down and watch out for the children, watch out for other cars.”

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