Columbus police increase traffic enforcement in some areas
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — An effort involving increased traffic enforcement to make Columbus roads safer, which started earlier this summer, has expanded to other parts of the city.
It's a partnership between Vision Zero, the city of Columbus' work to reduce the number of serious or deadly crashes, and the Columbus Division of Police (CPD). Officers see all kinds of dangerous behavior happening behind the wheel.
“They will be driving watching TV, we’ve seen YouTube, we’ve seen all kind of crazy things," Sgt. James Fuqua said.
As part of the effort, officers were recently working on Livingston Ave. on the east side. NBC4 crews saw them pull a driver over for distracted driving. The officers said they saw the driver holding their phone and looking down at it while driving.
“We have definitely seen an increase in distracted driving, mainly the phone. People are addicted to these smart phones unlike anything I've ever seen. And we have to put the phones down," Fuqua said.
This enforcement effort has meant CPD has been putting more focus on certain areas of the city. The places where there's been more enforcement are stretches of road which have had the most serious or deadly crashes, according to Fuqua.
“It has definitely been a huge success in terms of when we have written tickets in and done enforcement in those corridors and we’ve come back to that same intersection or area and seeing a reduction in speed and distracted driving," Fuqua said.
Initially CPD started this partnership with seven enforcement corridors. They are now in more. Fuqua said between three of the initial corridors they issued 131 speeding tickets, multiple warnings, and four citations for distracted driving.
“We’re not out here trying to write everyone a ticket to take people to jail. This is more of an awareness piece where we are doing everything we can to literally get people to slow down and to obey traffic laws," Fuqua said.
Fuqua said the division plans to continue this at least through September and potentially into 2026. He said in some instances, officers stopped drivers going double the speed limit.