MILWAUKEE — State Senator Tim Carpenter's Spring 2023 Survey results show that hundreds of his constituents believed reckless driving should be a top priority for Wisconsin lawmakers.
"It's very, very fast in the summer," said Kathy Stelling about traffic near home on Milwaukee's south side. She lives just blocks away from the entrance to Jackson Park near 43rd and Cleveland. "Also, there's a lot of red light running at the intersections," she said.
Those are two of the reasons she said she responded to Senator Carpenter's District Survey earlier this year. That survey included three questions related to reckless driving.
1.) Should Wisconsin once again require high schools to offer driver education courses?
90% of the 768 people who responded said yes.
2.) Should repeat reckless drivers be required to pass a state-approved safe driving course before they get their license back?
95% of those who responded said yes.
3.) Should Wisconsin allow driver privilege cards to be issued to undocumented immigrants who pass the state's driving test and provide proof of auto insurance?
62% said yes.
"When you hit 90% on some of those questions, that really tells you it's a burning issue," said State Sen. Carpenter.
Carpenter said when he was a student at Pulaski High School on Milwaukee's south side, driver education courses were required.
"That was so very important because everybody, regardless of your income, could go ahead and take a driver's ed class," he said.
Now, without the requirement, he worries reckless driving will continue to become more common.
"I think you have to get the legislature to buy into it," said Carpenter.
So far this year, Sen. Carpenter has co-sponsored two Senate bills related to driving. Senate Bill 396 was introduced on August 25 and would require the state's Department of Transportation to establish a driver education grant program. Senate Bill 107 was introduced on March 1 and is related to the use of automated speed enforcement systems and traffic control photographic systems in a first-class city and providing a penalty (red light cameras).
TMJ4's Ryan Jenkins asked Sen. Carpenter what he's doing to apply pressure on his fellow policymakers to get those bills passed.
"We introduce the bills, first of all, we try to do informal discussions with legislators to try and see if we can get bills but unfortunately right now, because of the political climate, communications aren’t the best. It’s difficult to talk with some of your colleagues because it’s more of a Democrats vs. Republican split where it shouldn’t be," said Sen. Carpenter. "I know there are problems in Racine, there are problems in Kenosha, Madison, all of the other communities are experiencing the same issues that we are. We are experiencing them at a higher rate."
On red light cameras: the senator says it's time to offer local control. Not everybody is on board though. Stelling said she'd rather see police doing the enforcement rather than the technology.
"Instead of somebody monitoring red light cameras, it's often much better when there's a motorcycle or patrol car parked next to Jackson Park," Stelling said.
A clear consensus from Milwaukee constituents that reckless driving solutions should be a top priority for Wisconsin's lawmakers.
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