MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) is cracking down on dangerous drivers. In an effort to make the roads safer, sheriff deputies are becoming more visible with their reckless driving patrols.
“I’m normally looking for speeders, people with no plates and license plate registration,” said Deputy Laura Jaroczynski.
TMJ4 News’ Rebecca Klopf rode along with her during her Tuesday afternoon patrol shift. She says the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office will tow the vehicle if someone is pulled over and they do not have a valid driver’s license.
Jaroczynski says from what she has seen on the road, it is usually impatient drivers who are driving recklessly that cause the most crashes on the freeways.
“They are weaving in and out of traffic, not using turn signals, speed, trying to get in and out of cars that they don't have enough room,” said Jaroczynski.
During rush hour Tuesday afternoon, we watched vehicle after vehicle on the Marquette Interchange cross over the full white median just to cut off the cars merging on I-43 South on the High Rise Bridge. It is not just illegal, but dangerous behavior.
"It is dangerous because you are coming from one lane of travel into an on-ramp lane, where people are getting onto the freeway, just to merge back into the same lane of traffic they just left from,” said Jaroczynski.
The ticket for doing that is not cheap. It is a $235 fine. Along with those lane violations, deputies out on patrol on Tuesday were also called out to multiple dangerous driving complaints on the freeways, including a reckless driving complaint, road rage, and a chase that topped speeds of 100 miles per hour.
In addition to watching the freeways, the sheriff’s office is also looking to prevent reckless driving on the lakefront. On Tuesday, a high visibility patrol was sent to the lakefront to monitor how people were driving. She says you can expect that to happen repeatedly this summer as needed. Jaroczynski says they see dangerous driving behavior along the lake where there is also a large number of people walking or crossing the roads.
Her advice for all drivers is to just slow down.
"I know some people are in a rush, depending on what's going on in their life, but it is also creating a chance they hurt themselves or someone else on the road by driving recklessly,” said Jaroczynski.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
