Question:During the holiday season, the Layton Police Department uses traffic officers to facilitate the smooth flow of motorists around the Layton Hills Mall so it is not such a nightmare. Why can't the city do this more routinely on Friday afternoons to get motorists moving and to prevent blocked intersections? Sometimes, if motorists would simply decrease the amount of space between them and the next vehicle, intersections would not be blocked. A little proactive driver's education by the police department would go a long way to alleviate this headache.
Response: During the last holiday season, the Layton Police Department used overtime shifts at various intersections surrounding the Layton Hills Mall and other heavily used roadways in an attempt to expedite travel time for travelers and to reduce traffic congestion. The overtime shifts were developed and staffed based upon our observations of the times traffic congestion was the heaviest.
The quickest answer to why we do not do this year-round is that we do not have sufficient funding to assign officers at these intersections throughout the year. I am unaware of any law-enforcement agency in the state that assigns officers to manually control intersections on a year-round basis, but many do as we have done and make these assignments around the holiday seasons or during special events.
I agree with the questioner's point that much of the problem would be solved if motorists would use more common sense and courtesy by increasing the distance between vehicles and by not entering the intersection when it is apparent that they will not be able to clear the intersection before the traffic light changes.
Besides scheduling overtime hours, the police department has scheduled on-duty personnel at these intersections at various times throughout the year to conduct enforcement activities for observed violations. Information regarding the need for motorists to obey the traffic laws and not block intersections is also mailed to our residents in the city newsletter and provided to the local newspapers.
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