Last July, several members of the Common Council stood with other city leaders, including Mayor Tom Barrett, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisolm and Police Chief Alfonso Morales, to announce yet another effort to curb reckless driving: a public-private partnership dubbed “Take it EZ Milwaukee.”
“We’ve had enough,” then-Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton said during a news conference at the intersection of South Cesar E. Chavez Drive and West Greenfield Avenue as youths held bright yellow signs that showed two colliding cars.
More than a year later, aside from tattered sections of caution tape still wrapped around street poles, not much remains of that campaign.
Yet reckless driving incidents continue to haunt the city. The latest plan by members of the City-County Carjacking and Reckless Driving Task Force contains strategies they believe will finally make a difference if implemented.
Among the recommendations from the task force’s final report, which was released this month: More public awareness campaigns; increased access to driver education; narrowed driving lanes; and coordinated traffic signals that allow for fewer stops.
The report also calls for increased penalties for adults caught driving recklessly while fleeing officers and for other dangerous road behaviors.
“These recommendations offer a comprehensive strategy for decision-makers to tackle reckless driving, “ said Ald. Michael Murphy, the chairman of the task force. “They will be far better equipped going forward to collaborate in a coordinated and comprehensive fashion while working on changing reckless driving behavior.”
The report recommends requiring police to take youths caught in stolen or fleeing vehicles into detention rather than writing tickets and providing diversion alternatives for first-time offenders.
Sharlen Moore, co-founder of Youth Justice Milwaukee, a campaign that advocates for community-based restorative programs as an alternative to incarceration, said many of the current and proposed measures are punitive.
Moore said the best way to address problems associated with reckless driving is to focus on prevention strategies.
“What we want to make sure is that we have standards that are not pushing people into the justice system,” she said. “We have to be a lot more creative and start investing in proactive strategies rather than being reactionary.”
Moore has advocated for some of the recommendations laid out in the task force’s plan, including increased access to driver’s education. Currently, she said, funding for those types of programs is extremely limited.
“We need driver’s education for anyone who wants to take it,” she said. “We also need programs that provide summer and year-round job opportunities to address root causes of the issues we’re facing in the community.”
Ongoing problem
The issue of reckless driving has plagued the city for years, and some believe the problem has gotten worse. Milwaukee resident Katie Velazquez said it’s not uncommon to see cars traveling at freeway speeds on residential streets.
“All these people are in such a hurry,” she said.
The task force report said from 2014 to now, there were 229,823 traffic offense cases, many of which would be considered reckless driving. Some involved police pursuits.
A report released last April by the Fire and Police Commission said police chases increased from 369 to 940 from 2017 to 2018, with more than one-fourth of those chases resulting in accidents.
In addition, a February 2020 Wisconsin Policy Forum report found that motor vehicle fatalities increased by 97 percent in the city from 2013 to 2018, with speeding being a primary factor.
And just this month, Isidro Vega-Quintero and his wife, Sandra Vega-Quintero, were killed in their vehicle by another car traveling at high speeds through a yellow light, according to news reports and a video of the crash that was posted on social media.
Three focus areas outlined in plan
The plan’s recommendations were guided by community input and the work of three subcommittees: one focused on prevention and education; one on engineering solutions; and the third on accountability and enforcement. Task force members also examined best practices from other cities and reviewed evidence-based research to help create the plan’s policy solutions.
In addition to Murphy, the task force includes Common Council member Chantia Lewis; several representatives of the mayor’s office; Milwaukee Police Department Assistant Chief Michael Brunson; Reggie Moore of the Office of Violence Prevention; Municipal Court Judge Derek Mosley and Chief Court Administrator Sheldyn Himle; and community representatives Bianca Williams and Nichole Yunk Todd.
Velazquez found merit in some aspects of the plan, including increasing penalties for offenders.
“The fines should go up after each offense and then the license revoked after so many violations,” she said.
Another resident, Kelly Waupoose Murphy, said she thinks speed bumps, red light cameras and roundabouts, all recommendations in the plan, can make a difference. But she says more policing and punitive measures are needed.
“Have traffic police posted in busy intersections during peak times and have higher fines,” she said.
Special Report: Reckless driving forces Milwaukee residents into game of ‘red light roulette’
Terri says
As a victim of reckless driving I am in support of the punitive route. Taking away license won’t work because most of the people driving reckless don’t have them. They don’t have insurance so when they hit and injure you there are no consequences unless they are gravely injured as well.
I have not worked since my accident on January 5, 2019 and need another surgery to walk 85% of the way I did before.
There needs to be serious penalties for those who disregard life, property and the law. The person that hit me had no insurance and didn’t get a ticket, fine or jail time for multiple violations in just my accident alone. It’s disgraceful and I’m sick of this laid back approach to lawlessness.
If I park in front of my home, that I own, overnight I get a ticket but a person who runs a red light, driving in the wrong lane going 60 mph on a city street at 12 noon and hits me almost head on….gets nothing but a pass to do it again.
Rachel says
I hope that your surgery goes well and so sorry this happened to you. I totally agree with your point of view. I have had liability insurance on my cars and had them totaled by other people including while parked…I finally paid for total coverage on my car because I was sick and tired of having them destroyed by jerks that take off and ending up with no car..(of course the transmission went out on that car instead of getting totaled by another jerk). I pray that they can get these people to realize that they are injuring and financially hurting people with their criminal behavior and need to be held accountable. I know losing my car does not compare to what you and so many others have gone through.
B says
Extreme penalties, incarceration, and vehicle impoundment is really the only Effective way of decreasing reckless, scofflaw,unregistered, unlicensed and uninsured vehicles/individuals who have no regard for anyone, including themselves…
Toni Wagner says
Take away their cars. It might help, but I know that you don’t need a driver’s license to buy a car at the little local car lots. Change that law. Enforce the current law requiring valid license plates.
B says
absolutely.
Martha Rogers says
I live in the 5th Aldermanic district. I no longer take Capital Dr to Shorewood due to violently aggressive rule-abandoned driving. The recklessness is stunning. For example right hand turns from left hand lanes across 3 lanes of traffic while jumping the change to green light at 27th & Capitol. Help out the police: Cameras at intersections & fines given out based on camera evidence. Done in Europe all of the time. Strict fines. A few are seriously endangering many. Reinstitute mandatory drivers ed. Crack down on minimal offenses as well.
Fred Williams says
In the past I drove East down Silver Spring every morning, and then West down Silver Spring every evening. Scariest thing I had to do every day. So I switched to using Good Hope. Not any better. Extremely scary journey. I always wonder… where in the heck are the police? It’s a terrible experience every day of my life. No police to be seen anywhere! I’m sure they’re doing something, but they are certainly NOT monitoring risky drivers, and at times are the riskiest of drivers I see on the road. I can’t have my mom visit my shop in Milwaukee, because I’m terrified of the thought of her having to drive there. One benefit of all of the incredibly selfish and risky drivers… I have learned how to pay attention while I am driving. It’s just scary. People running red lights, passing at high rates of speed in bike and turn lanes, and generally acting as if they are invincible. Disregarding every other person around them. It’s scary. HWY 145 North from Hampton to its connection with 45 North is currently a speedway, with ZERO police presence. Just scary.
Dave says
I agree that we have to target the vehicles, not just the people.
Cars are dangerous weapons when used recklessly. Fines, drivers license suspensions, even jail time are not deterrents (obviously, or we wouldn’t be in this situation).
We need to boot cars that are positively id’d as reckless vehicles. That and only that will send the message; going to get in your car and find it’s booted? Think about who you last let drive it…. I bet you won’t let them again. Need to hop on the bus or beg a ride after yours is booted? You’ll think twice way more than if you got a ticket.
Carole says
What happened to proof of insurance before being able to drive a car off of a lot? I see so many vehicles without plates on them and i’m sure they also do not have any type of insurance either. I’m sorry to say but those who are selling these vehicles needs to take some responsibility as well. Having cameras at red lights, increasing fines will do nothing. Immediately confiscate any vehicle that does not have a current valid registration, no car, no speeding. This will teach a lesson, especially when you go to pick-up the vehicle and have to pay the fines incurred. It’s time to do something meaningful!!
Curt says
A huge problem for the city. Reckless and careless driving at high speeds is all to common. The solution is not drivers education or whether the driver has a license. The solution comes from our elected officials to make a stand and decide once and for all that it is time to put a stop to it. And while they are at it…it is not guy who is going 5mph over the speed limit going or coming from work, nor is the mother trying to pick up her babies from childcare. Its the drivers going in excess of 25mph over the posted signs. Its the drivers erratically changing lanes, who wait til the very last second to change lanes or cut other drivers off. Its time….It occurs all over our city more frequently than anyone knows.