ASHLAND — Speeding throughout Ashland continues to be an issue concerning council members, even as officers issue more citations and more warnings to drivers.
“The speeding in my end of town has not gotten better,” said Councilman Jason Chio during a Sept. 6 council meeting.
Chio represents the city’s second ward, which covers the west and northwest part of town.
In an interview after the meeting, he said he sees people speeding down Smith Road, where he lives, all the time.
“It’s crazy,” he said.
In May, council members and Ashland Mayor Matt Miller urged drivers to ease their need for speed as police determined to crack down. Miller said officers were encouraged to be more vigilant when it came to issuing citations and giving warnings for speed.
Since then, the issuing of traffic citations and warnings have increased, according to data provided by the Ashland Police Division.
From June to August of 2021, police issued 178 citations for speed and other traffic-related violations.
During the same time period in 2022, police issued 259 — a 45.5% increase.
When it came to warnings, officers wrote 65.5% more of those this year between June and August compared to the same time period in 2021.
“We’re gonna continue to monitor speed as well as other traffic violations that we generally look for already,” said Capt. Craig Kiley.
Other violations include having proper child restraints, stopping at stop lights and signs and following too closely, Kiley said.
Another area of focus have been parking violations, though the amount of violations. Police have issued 53 parking tickets since January. Most of those were written earlier in the year because, according to APD data, police wrote eight parking citations between June and August.
Police were busier with parking tickets last year during June, July and August, when they wrote 18 citations, according to APD data.
The city does not have a dedicated parking enforcement officers.
“And we’re not in the position to be have a speed task force sorta thing,” Kiley said. “But we’re still encouraging officers to be visible, and they’re looking for violations.”
