Team Focuses On Prevention Of Accidents Weekly Traffic Enforcement Concentrates On Specific Areas

The Coeur d’Alene Police Department’s CARE team will be patrolling Third Street in Coeur d’Alene today as part of a weekly traffic enforcement effort.

From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today they will cruise the area from Interstate 90 to Sherman Avenue on Third Street looking for speed violations, improper lane changes and other driving violations, said Officer Randy Miller.

The CARE team Community Accident Reduction Through Education - is made up of four officers who focus on reducing accidents in Coeur d’Alene.

Each officer is responsible for a specific quarter of the city.

Miller said the intersection at Third and Locust has one of the highest accident rates in his quadrant.

From 1991 to 1994 there were 18 accidents at the intersection, nine involving injury.

Each week, the CARE team will spend a day patrolling an area in the city, issuing both citations and warnings.

Through the newspapers, they will warn the public which area they are patrolling.

Miller said that during one of their recent emphasis patrols, they stopped 139 people.

About 30 to 40 of those drivers were given tickets.

The rest were given warnings, he said.

He said the officers hope the weekly saturation patrols will educate people about the driving regulations in town and about the CARE team.

, DataTimes