In an effort to make county roads safer, the Tacoma Pierce County DUI Task Force conducted an X-52 speeding patrol Jan. 3 focused on enforcing the speed limit on State Routes 512 and 7 and on Meridian and 176th Streets where there are a significant number of speed-related crashes.

During the speed emphasis patrol, 36 officers, deputies and troopers stopped 558 motorists and issued 288 speeding tickets. An additional 183 citations for unsafe driving were issued including driving aggressively or while suspended or, in the case of teenagers, in violation of intermediate driver’s license restrictions.

The special emphasis began at 8 a.m. when many of the roads had ice on them, also focused on stopping drivers who were driving too fast for conditions.

The same roads in 2006 and 2007 were part of a speed reduction project conducted by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission in conjunction with the task force in which almost 15,000 citations were issued and, as a result, speed was reduced as much as 70 per cent for people going at least 11 miles over the limit.

The Washington State Patrol coordinated the all-day patrol. Other participating law enforcement agencies included the Fircrest, Fife, Tacoma, Bonney Lake, Sumner, University Place, Roy, Dupont, Lakewood and Puyallup Police Departments along with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.