Traffic Enforcement

The South Milwaukee Police Department utilizes the Three "E's" of traffic to promote a safe motoring community:

Education

          Education can consist of measures such as:

• Meetings and/or workshops with concerned citizens to explain how and why some speeding problems may be more perceived than real.

• Deployment of the speed trailer to inform motorists of their actual speed and remind them of the posted speed limit.

• Neighborhood speed watch program to identify neighborhood speeders and apply neighborhood pressure on them to slow down (Yard Sign Program)

• Neighborhood Newsletters, Web-Site, Government Access Channel, High School Newspapers, teaching parents how to properly install child restraint seats and programs like MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers).
  

           Enforcement 

• Although viewed by the motoring public as a penalty, traffic enforcement is an educational tool designed to improve awareness of traffic laws. The Police Department receives traffic complaints on a regular basis. Enforcement areas are then assigned based on these complaints. Officers also take it upon themselves during their shift to enforce traffic laws while on patrol with random enforcement of areas with a low  and high volume of violators. 

  
  Engineering
  

• Patrol and Traffic Officers review areas for atypical circumstances and work with City, County and State engineers, to help identify problem areas to find solutions to make the roadways safer and more efficient. 
  

The purpose of this page is to offer information about various traffic issues in the city. We will be making updates on a regular basis. Our goal is to provide you with knowledge to help you be a well informed and safe driver. Please come back often.

Drivers must be even more vigilant when school starts

 With the start of the school year, drivers will once again need to watch for children and teens walking, biking or riding buses to and from school and follow laws designed to protect them.

 “Students, especially young children, are not always aware of the traffic around them, so drivers should expect the unexpected. Drivers will need to pay attention and slow down when approaching students who are walking or riding bikes.  They also will need to be particularly cautious around school buses that are loading or unloading passengers” says Officer Brian Fleming of the South Milwaukee Police Department.

Stop for school buses

 According to Wisconsin law, drivers must stop a minimum of 20 feet from a stopped school bus with its red warning lights flashing.  Drivers must stop whether the bus is on their side of road, on the opposite side of the road, or at an intersection they are approaching. However, drivers are not required to stop for a school bus if they are traveling in the opposite direction on the other side of a divided roadway separated by a median or other physical barrier.

 When they are passed illegally, school bus drivers are authorized to report the violator to a law enforcement agency and a citation may be issued. The owner of the vehicle, who might not be the offending driver, will then be responsible for paying the citation.

 A citation for failure of a vehicle to stop for a school bus costs up to $326.50 with four demerit points.    If reported by a school bus driver, the vehicle owner’s liability for the illegal passing of a bus costs up to $326.50 with no demerit points.

 Students walking to school

 State law requires drivers to yield to pedestrians:

•  Who have started crossing an intersection or crosswalk on a walk signal or on a green light if there’s no walk signal.

• Who are crossing the road within a marked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection where there are no traffic lights or control signals.

• When a vehicle is crossing a sidewalk or entering an alley or driveway.

State law also requires:

• That no pedestrians shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk, run, or ride into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is difficult for the operator of the vehicle to yield. This could lead to a fine of up to $68.60.

• Every pedestrian, bicyclist, or rider of an electric personal assistive mobility device crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked or unmarked crosswalk shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway. This could lead to a fine of up to $55.60.

In addition, drivers may not legally overtake and pass any vehicle that has stopped for pedestrians at an intersection or crosswalk.  Drivers who fail to yield the right of way to pedestrians who are legally crossing roadways may be issued citations that cost approximately $175 to $232 (depending on the type of violation) along with four demerit points assessed on their license. A citation for passing a vehicle that is stopped for pedestrians costs up to $326 with three demerit points.

 Students biking to school

 When drivers are passing bicycles traveling in the same direction, they must leave a safe distance of no less than 3-feet of clearance and must maintain that clearance until they have safely passed the bicycle.

 A violation of the state law that requires drivers to overtake and pass bicyclists safely costs a total of up to $200.50 with three demerit points.