Milwaukee reckless driving; Wisconsin Assembly passes bill to help curb

MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin lawmakers took steps on Thursday, March 13, to address reckless driving in Milwaukee.

Supporters say it’s one more tool in the toolbox of fighting reckless driving following the 

End to reckless driving?

What we know:

In Madison on Thursday, March 13, the Wisconsin Assembly voted to approve a new option to go after reckless drivers. The bill would allow local ordinances to allow police to tow and impound cars in all reckless driving cases – with the emphasis on the "all."

What they're saying:

"My godmother, Dr. Sylvia Hughes Teraray was taken from us by a reckless driver," State Rep. Russell Goodwin (D-Milwaukee) said. "She was a pillar in our community, a guiding light in my life, and somebody who dedicated herself to making others better."

SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News

"There must be real consequences for those actions," State Rep. Bob Donovan (R-Greenfield) said. "Yes, that includes parents whose children recklessly drive their cars."

MPD data

Dig deeper:

MPD already had the power to tow unregistered vehicles of reckless drivers. Police stats show about 595 tows under this from May 2022 through Feb. 11 this year.

In 2023, state law added more. It allowed local ordinances to tow and impound registered cars used in reckless driving, but only if the driver was the owner and only if the driver was a repeat reckless driver with unpaid fines.

Data reveals since then, it's only towed 11 cars under this new ordinance.

In 2023, the Common Council asked the state legislature to allow towing all reckless drivers, getting rid of the caveats.

Last month, a Milwaukee Common Council committee questioned MPD about the topic.

What they're saying:

"It takes several minutes. It’s not a long effort to find the information, it’s everything that goes along with it: writing the citation, waiting for the tow. We can add 30-45 minutes to each traffic stop, if we were to tow a vehicle," MPD inspector David Feldmeier said. "The more that we do, the’re always the concern is taking that the officers taken out of service, but if that’s what we’re required to do, and that’s the policy, then that’s what our officers will do."

The Milwaukee Department of Public Works said, by contract, the one tow contractor for the city has to arrive within 30 minutes. The average response time for a city-requested tow is about 18 minutes.

MPD now says if an officer can write a ticket for reckless driving, they are required to give that ticket.

In 2024, MPD issued 620 tickets for reckless driving. That’s down 28 from 2023, but up 123 from 2022. And MPD says about 70% of all chases are related to reckless driving. 

FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android

In 2024, MPD had 957 chases, and 603 were for reckless driving. If the Senate and Gov. Tony Evers agree, many more of those stopped cars could be towed.

"The reality is many of these individuals don’t stop and those pursuits are then cancelled because they became a danger to the community surrounding, so when we’re talking about issuing citations for reckless driving, I just want to keep it real and say: this is the universe of individuals who stop," MPD Chief of Staff Heather Hough said.

New collision dashboard

Local perspective:

The new Milwaukee County Motor Vehicle Collision Dashboard shows 27th near Center is the most dangerous for crashes leading to deaths and injuries.

It's like a dangerous game of Frogger for bike rider Justin Fenelon, riding in Milwaukee on 27th, near Center.

"It’s more like chess and checkers, you just got to outmaneuver them, but there’s no way to outmaneuver them because obviously they're the ones with the engine," said bike rider Justin Fenelon. "I’ll just stop, because I’m not looking to be in the hospital, so I don’t get crashed or ran over."

PoliticsMilwaukeeNewsTrafficTransportation