Slow down St. Tammany Parish residents!

The St. Tammany News

It’s that time again when deputies from the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office will fan out over the parish this weekend and enforce their successful program called Operation Safe Streets.

Deputies will be patrolling 16 subdivisions from Slidell to Covington looking for speeders and other drivers who refuse to obey traffic signals.

Operation Safe Streets has been highly effective. During its debut March 20, deputies wrote out 919 traffic tickets in an eight-hour period.

Sheriff Jack Strain instituted the program because the most common complaint to his office was the high numbers of drivers exceeding the speed limit in the subdivisions.

We concur with the Sheriff. Speeding in subdivisions is dangerous, especially during the weekend when hundreds of children are outside playing. Residents in subdivisions choose to live in these quiet neighborhoods just so that their children will have a safe place to play. Speed demons do not make this possible.

Besides, it’s the weekend. Is there that much of a need to speed? Weekends are for relaxing, taking one’s time, and enjoying the scenery. We urge motorists who travel through subdivisions, or even municipal areas, for that matter, to please slow down, and watch out for children and pedestrians.

Besides safety concerns, there is a very practical reason to slow down. With today’s skyrocketing gasoline prices, it pays to slow down. Driving at slower speeds, even five miles below the posted speed limit, will save drivers gas, which means less trips to the corner gas station to watch hard-earned dollars disappear into the gas tank.

For those scofflaws who think that this is a one-time affair, and that they can put the pedal to the metal after the deputies go home, think again. Sheriff Strain is so serious about this project that he will send out his deputies again July 30, Aug. 8, and Aug. 16 to catch those who cannot seem to slow down.

So be forewarned, and we urge everyone to slow down, not just during Operation Safe Streets, but every time they get into a car.