TMJ4 and Reckless Driving

For the next year TMJ4 is partnering with the Sherman Park Reckless Driving Committee and members of the Coalition for Safe Driving MKE to address the reckless driving problem in Milwaukee. Their goal is to get safer drivers out on the roads. In addition they will also be working with several other interested groups including: Milwaukee Police Department, Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, Department of Public Works, the Mayor’s office, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the Wisconsin Bike Fed, Safe and Sound, Inc, MPS Drive, Running Rebels, Northcott Neighborhood House, the WCS Center for Driver’s License Recovery and Community Insurance Information.

In working with the various groups, they will attempt to educate drivers about the rules of the road. There will be enforcement updates by police and the courts. In addition, they will look at engineering of our roads to see what could be done to make streets safer. This will be done through the lens of equity and diversity. Again, this will be a year long journey and TMJ4 states they need the help of the public. Questions they ask are like has reckless driving impacted you? Do you know someone who has? You have potential solutions to share. Finally, they state send us a message at projectdrivesafer@tmj4.com so together, we can all be part of the solution.

Business owners on Fond Du Lac Avenue state they need help to keep their clients safe because of all the reckless driving in the area. They say they are losing money because people are afraid to park in front of their businesses. The speed limit is 30 mph in the area, but most cars are going a lot faster than that. The parked cars of clients have been affected. There have been several minor accidents. One person had their vehicle totaled while inside one business. One car, which turned out to be stolen, hit a parked vehicle and the suspect got out and ran off from the area. One owner said customers are always worried about their vehicles parked in the area. The MPD Traffic Enforcement Unit regularly patrol the area. One owner stated if they do not see the police they will not slow down.

This is just one story of reckless driving but there are many more stories across the city. We all must work together to get control of this problem if we want to make our city safer. TMJ4 will be working on this for at least one year so we all need to pitch in.