KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety (KDPS) has announced a new traffic enforcement plan that will be used in neighborhoods and the downtown area.
This comes after several complaints have been received about speeding drivers.
The department issued the following statement Wednesday:
“The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety will conduct traffic enforcement using our Community Policing Unit. We will be targeting specifically our neighborhoods and downtown areas. This is an attempt to address the quality of life issues that our neighborhoods have identified such as speed, noise and exhibition driving. This enforcement is an opportunity for our community to come together and problem-solve in order to obtain better outcomes.”
This comes after Vice Mayor Patrese Griffin spoke on the subject during a virtual city meeting last month.
“For some reason, people choose to treat residential streets like the drag strip,” Griffin said. “We’re experiencing this on all sides of town.”
The city had attempted to deter speeding by installing chicanes, or “bump-outs” in the Northside neighborhood, but abandoned that plan after negative feedback.
A written statement from City Planner Christina Anderson reads:
“We heard your concerns on the proposed chicanes and traffic enforcement and as a result we are pausing the plans to install additional chicanes in the Northside. In the coming weeks we will be reaching out to many of you who attended the meeting last week and to neighborhood leaders to form a working group to discuss traffic calming opportunities moving forward. We will work with residents to make sure we understand all the traffic issues in the area. We hope that together we can determine actions that are timely and which best address your needs.”
More information on that project can be found here.
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