Palos Park officials believe they are making progress in preventing speeding and other traffic violations that have been problematic in the village.
Mayor Nicole Milovich-Walters said the police department has been writing more tickets and that the village is receiving help – especially with busy and noisy LaGrange Road causing headaches for residents.
“I want to remind everyone that a couple of months ago I met with (Cook County Sheriff Tom) Dart and after that meeting, they made a concerted effort to make sure that the County Sheriff as well as the forest preserve police were also present on LaGrange Road making stops and looking at the types of tickets they’re writing,” she said at the Aug. 24 village council meeting.
“They’re writing tons of speeding tickets and they’re also writing no-headlight tickets because lots of those people drive around without their headlights on at night. That is so bizarre because it’s dark out here so you’d think you would notice if your headlights weren’t on.”
Noisy vehicles have been a sore spot in town and Milovich-Walters said that’s another area the police are keeping a watchful eye on.
“They ticket a lot of drivers for equipment violations,” she said. “That would be the loud mufflers and things like that, so they worked all of July writing lots of tickets.”
The mayor pointed out that the village participated in the Alive on 45 initiative in mid-July. That was a project in which police agencies from Cook, Will and Kankakee counties looked for impaired driving, distracted driving, seat belt usage and speeding on Route 45 – also known as LaGrange Road.
“All the communities participated, so lots of tickets were written then and then there was another special initiative on July 22 where they were concentrating on writing tickets for people making violations,” she said. “So, just be aware that we are working together with the county, the forest preserves and the Palos Park Police Department, who are all doing an amazing job trying to get people to follow the rules.”
