N.Y. First Responder Raising Awareness on Distracted Driving

Dec. 19--Within a two-and-a-half hour time span, 24 cars were spotted running a steady red light at the intersection of Main and Pine streets on Thursday.

That's according to Stephen Wallace, a veteran photographer and first responder in the Lockport community, is raising the issue of distracted driving.

Of those 24 cars, 12 accelerated to beat the red light, nine cars went through "solid" red lights and three made right-hand turns on solid red lights without stopping first, he said.

"I am just amazed with the red light violations," Wallace said. "I'm talking not even in the intersection, the light's yellow and you haven't even come up to the crosswalk and you're accelerating to go through solid red lights."

Wallace has been posting near intersections within the city and town of Lockport over eight days within the last two weeks. He has taken a progression of pictures of vehicles running red lights, driving with their knees, talking on their phones or some other form of distracted driving.

Recently, he has been scoping out the intersections of Main and Pine streets, South Transit Road and Shimer Drive, and Transit and Raymond Road.

"I have seen the devastation as a paramedic," he said. "You have the people who go out for a bicycle ride or a run, and they get run over because someone is texting. Or your kids are coming home from college and they'll never come home again, because someone ran a red light because they didn't want to wait."

The Lockport Police Department knows the traffic infractions committed in the city and are working diligently in order to ensure the safe passage of vehicles and pedestrians, according to Capt. Mike Niethe.

However, the department has seen a small decrease in the number of traffic tickets issued, due to the lack of manpower on the force.

To date, LPD has distributed 2,897 uniformed traffic tickets for infractions such as speeding, running red lights and stop signs, unlawful use of cellphones and equipment defects. Of those tickets, 154 where issued for running red lights and 65 for the unlawful use of a cellphone.

With about two weeks left in the year, the department has stayed relatively close to the total of traffic tickets issued as in 2014. Last year, 3,088 traffic tickets were issued in total, 172 for running red lights and 51 for unlawful use of a cellphone.

The department currently has four patrol squads, two day-time shifts and two night-time shifts, with a total of six to seven officers in each shift. However, there are a few officers out on short-term leave and are not expected to be back within the next three weeks.

With the shortage of officers, LPD's attention has gone to other cases. However, Niethe said the manpower situation within the department will improve with the swearing-in of three new recruits, Anthony J. Pellittieri, Daniel L. Kaufman and Adam Szwartz.

The department will also gain Matthew Vosler, who graduated from the Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy on Friday.

With the addition of one patrolman to each squad, the department foresees an increase in radar coverage within the city. In the past, Niethe, along with Chief Larry Eggert, have found that when posting marked cars at intersections, police see very few vehicles passing red lights or drivers using their phones. It is when an unmarked car is posted at an intersection that more incidents occur.

"Unfortunately, we are shorthanded and don't have many opportunities for unmarked vehicles to be on patrol for traffic enforcement," Niethe said.

The posting of marked vehicles in the future will be the choice of the squad lieutenants, he added.

Mayor Anne McCaffrey is also hopeful that with the addition of the three new officers to the department, more time will be spent on radar and patrol within the city.

Today, Niethe is constantly looking for grant money to cover the cost of officers who go out on the streets and enforce traffic ordinances. The grant money would reimburse the upfront cost the city pays the officers for overtime work.

Niethe is also in favor of looking for grant money to install cameras at the intersections for the purpose of recording drivers who run red lights. But the decision to implement these cameras is ultimately the Common Council's, he said.

Contact reporter Rachel Fuerschbach at 439-9222, ext. 6246.

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