325 traffic citations in a week: Sheriff's officials say 240 of them issued for speeding

MILWAUKEE COUNTY -- The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office's traffic saturation patrols have netted 325 citations in a week, officials announced Thursday, October 26th. 240 of those were issued for speeding.

Here's the breakdown:

Acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt has ordered ongoing, random saturation patrols on the Milwaukee County freeway system to combat reckless driving and dangerously high speeding. The Wisconsin State Patrol has partnered with the sheriff’s office on this initiative.

“I am pleased with the efforts of the deputies and troopers. They have stopped drivers going more than 40 mph over the limit!  I am committed to the saturation patrols until we gain voluntary compliance to the laws in place to keep the motoring public safe," Sheriff Schmidt said in a news release Thursday.

Sheriff's officials noted the effort focuses on public safety, and is not based on generating revenue. They said construction zone safety is compromised by speeding, reckless drivers -- and stressed that motorists need to obey Wisconsin's Move Over Law, moving over a lane for emergency vehicles and tow trucks, or slowing to under 40 mph if unable to safely change lanes.

Sheriff Schmidt pointed out that for every 10 miles driven at 10 mph over the speed limit, a driver is only saving 1 minute 41 seconds.  The time saved is not worth the risk to other drivers, nor the cost of the ticket.