Stepped-up police patrols have slowed speeders on Highway 55 through South Haven, and Wright County Sheriff Gary Miller says deputies will continue to concentrate on traffic enforcement there. Miller appeared at the South Haven City Council meeting Tuesday night, March 3, after repeated complaints by council member Tony Stanley about highway drivers far exceeding the 30 mph limit through town. Stanley warned a year ago that someone would get killed by speeding drivers, some of whom he said sail through at 65 mph. Last month, he complained that a deputy sat near the highway in his squad car for an hour and "didn’t budge" as traffic sped by. Miller before the meeting sent the council a report from the department’s traffic car officer, who had patrolled the area for almost two weeks. He stopped about 16 drivers but issued few tickets. "I believe the traffic enforcement by sight of squad in the area has influenced (the) public dramatically," the report said. "From my point of view the traffic enforcement has made a direct impact on speeders (and) traffic." Stanley, whose main concern has been westbound traffic that comes around a curve into town at high speed, told Miller the report confirmed his own observation. "I have seen in the last week the cars slowing down at the edge of town." "Whatever the sheriff has been doing the past few weeks has worked," he said in an interview later, "and if he continues to do that then I think we’ll be fine." Miller told council members the traffic car, which deals exclusively with traffic matters, will continue to be used in South Haven. In addition to that and other patrols by deputies, the city has a contract with the sheriff’s department to patrol four hours a week in South Haven. "We’ll do what you want during that time," Miller said. The department will direct deputies to spend the majority of their time there working traffic. Deputies should be dropping in to council meetings to find out what the city wants, he said. "We’ll make sure that happens." The department in the past has concentrated on the bars in South Haven, Miller said, but "the focus now should be traffic if that’s what you want." The state patrol should be informed of the city’s request for traffic enforcement, he said, and should have a trooper in the area when a sheriff’s deputy isn’t around. Miller encouraged the city to remind the department if speeding becomes a problem again. "You can send them a message but it’s got to be repeated." The sheriff said he made a commitment when he visited the council almost a year ago to work on its problem "only it wasn’t done to your satisfaction." The department can do a better job of getting out the message, he said. "We obviously didn’t follow through." Former mayor Marilyn Gordon told Miller she and her dog cross the highway to get to the gas station to buy a newspaper, and vehicles "are hurtling around that curve" at the east end of town. "I can’t count the number of times that I’ve almost been clipped." And one time, about a month ago, the driver was a Wright County sheriff’s deputy, she said. "He came around that curve from the east so fast." The sheriff said she should have called him, and he urged her to do so if anything like that happened again. "We’re as guilty as anybody else," he said. "It seems that our whole society as a group, our driving habits have deteriorated." Miller blamed most of the bad driving on inattention. "It’s unbelievable what people do when they’re driving," he said, citing things like talking on cell phones and combing their hair. The majority of the drivers and speeders are commuters traveling through town. "Most of them are your neighbors." Miller said he believes a safe driving course offered through Safe Communities of Wright County is more effective against speeding than writing tickets. "The most effective thing I’ve seen in the last 10 years to slow down traffic is when gas got up to $4 a gallon." Sandy Swanson, a former council member, said the 30 mph signs are too far inside the city and suggested moving them out farther to give drivers more time to slow down. She complained about seeing a deputy sitting in a church parking lot opposite her house while doing paperwork. Miller said deputies shouldn’t be doing paperwork during South Haven’s contract hours. They write most reports in their cars, and the department asks them to be visible while they’re doing that, but they shouldn’t ignore violations. Former mayor Gene Edwards agreed traffic has slowed down because of the police presence. But Edwards said he sees a lot of speeding in town on Main Street, Fairhaven Avenue and County Road 2, and he’s concerned for the safety of children and elderly people. Stanley said he was satisfied with the meeting and the results of increased patrolling. He said last month he wanted South Haven to get a reputation as a town you don’t speed through. But Stanley added last week that deputies don’t have to write a ton of tickets and he never advocated it become a speed trap. "I’m seeing less (speeding) than I was before so whatever’s been done to achieve that, let’s keep doing that."
