Police try positive traffic enforcement

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

The Lockhart Police Department took a new tack on traffic enforcement during the annual “Click it or Ticket” campaign. Rather than only issuing tickets for bad driving behaviors, they issued tickets – baseball tickets – for drivers that followed all the rules.
As it turns out, Lockhart has more drivers that obey traffic

laws than those that do not.
According to Sgt. Larry Simmons, Jr., Lockhart police issued 39 citations for “no seat belt” and four tickets for improperly restrained children during the “Click it or Ticket” campaign between May 22 and June 4.
On the other hand, they gave out 150 pairs of tickets to Round Rock Express baseball to drivers who displayed what Simmons called “good driving habits.”
“At the kickoff of the “Click it or Ticket” campaign, we put patrol officers at the four elementary schools, Carver Kindergarten and the junior high school,” he said. “When the parents came in to drop off their kids and we saw that they were doing the right things – using proper restraints, using their turn signals correctly and such – we walked up to the car and gave them a pair of baseball tickets.”
Simmons said the department chose the “positive reinforcement” approach this year because it is important for the community to know that the police care about the public”s safety.
“If [drivers] are following the right safety measures, we want them to know we appreciate that,” he said early in the campaign. “It”s important that they use their safety belts and buckle up their kids correctly.”