The Traffic Program

The Atherton Traffic Safety Program was established in 1995, and was formed in response to the ever-increasing flow of traffic within the Town.

The main goal of the program is to reduce fatal and injury collisions through both enforcement and education, with a high concentration in school zones. Officers Mills and Kockler spend a part of their time speaking with students and parents about bicycle safety, childseat laws, and teen-age driving laws. Since 1996, the Traffic Division has given away more than 200 free bicycle helmets to children from our town and surrounding communities. Other goals include reducing the amount of commercial vehicles over 3 tons that use our roadways. The Town of Atherton has 50 miles of paved roadway within its jurisdiction. 45.25 miles of which are small two-lane roadways not designed to carry a high volume of traffic or large, oversized vehicles. These officers also spend a great deal of time addressing areas where complaints have been received. Traffic Officers change to work nighttime hours during the holiday season when they join in the countywide "Avoid the 23" DUI enforcement campaign. Officers Mills and Kockler have received awards for their achievements in making DUI arrests.

Motorcycle training school consists of 120 hours of slow and high-speed riding, which includes 20 hours of riding in adverse road conditions such as sand, gravel, dirt and water. The course covers the basics from learning to identify different parts of the motorcycle to vehicle pursuits and traffic enforcement.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Our traffic safety officers ride the Kawasaki, Harley-Davidson and BMW Police Motorcycles. The police motorcycle has proven to be a very effective means for traffic enforcement. The police motorcycle allows an officer more mobility during peak traffic times. The police motorcycles have a top speed in excess of 120 MPH and when fully outfitted with emergency lights and radio equipment can weigh in at over 800 pounds. All of our police motorcycles are equipped with the Stalker Dual moving radar. Moving radar allows the officer to obtain the speed of a violator in several ways. When an officer is stopped the radar unit will monitor traffic speed. When an officer is moving, the radar can be set to monitor the speed of traffic travelling towards the officer or in the same direction. With forward and rearward mounted antennas the radar can also monitor the speed of traffic approaching from the front or rear.

The Program has a speed radar trailer. As part of the Adopt-a-Trailer program, residents can arrange for the trailer to be placed in front of their home on a certain day of the month. The radar trailer is equipped with two antennas, and indicates vehicle speeds as they drive by the trailer. Traffic officers will often work in the area that the trailer is deployed.

The Program utilizes one traffic car, commonly referred to as a "flat top" due to the absence of roof-mounted emergency lights. During inclement weather, traffic officers will use the "flat top", when riding a motorcycle would be dangerous. This vehicle is also used during the DUI enforcement campaigns.