Driving safety tips such as fastening seat belts, driving defensively, obeying posted speed limits and watching for pedestrians will soon be taught by police officers when the city's first traffic school begins operation this month.
The City Council has directed staff to develop a traffic school to provide judges an alternative when dealing with traffic offenders. The program is being developed under the direction of Ronald E. Kunz, who was appointed judge a few months ago after former judge Geraldine Christensen retired.Council members, the city manager, police officers and legal officials are working on creating the school. It will be formally approved next week.
Mayor Ken Miller said, "I see this as another opportunity for us to create better communication between the citizens, the public safety department and the court. We're more interested in creating safe conditions within our city than collecting fines, and the traffic school allows us to achieve those goals."
Kunz said he sees the proposed traffic school as an option in dealing with city residents who appear before the court on minor traffic offenses.
"The city wins because we will not be tying up our officers' time for trials on minor traffic disputes," Kunz said. "Many people get lost in the formalities of the court, and I can't listen to all their problems."
Kunz said he hopes the school, which will be operated in the City Council chambers, will be in place by Aug. 20. He said the proposal was brought up for consideration after Councilman David Plouzek inquired why West Jordan didn't have a traffic school when surrounding cities do.
"I think it's excellent. It gives a message to our citizens that we want to build a relationship between the public safety department, the court and the individual citizen," Plouzek said.
He said he hopes the school will give West Jordan's 50,000-plus citizens the opportunity to better learn traffic laws.
"I went through the process in Sandy and thought it was positive. We were stunted by the lack of knowledge of the traffic code. I brought this up (because) I didn't know the laws had changed so much. We care about our citizens and want them to stop getting traffic citations," Plouzek said.
Kunz said West Jordan residents who are caught violating traffic laws will continue to post bail. He said those who want to go to traffic school will still have to appear in court. The prosecutor will screen most of these cases and make appropriate recommendations to the court.
Prosecutors will either agree to proceed to trial, recommend a reduced fine if the defendant will plead guilty and attend traffic school, or recommend that the charges be dismissed upon the defendant's attending traffic school and paying a traffic school fee. The fee will likely be between $25 and $35, Kunz said.
Two police officers will teach, with each class enrolling 20 to 30 students. Two sessions are planned per month.
"The creation of a traffic school will greatly benefit not only the citizens but the police officers and the court . . . The police officers will have a forum to help educate citizens to common traffic problems," Kunz said.