Traffic enforcement should be a priority

Editor: I began working on this letter on Sept. 10 — now that a crossing guard at Lodi Middle School has been critically injured after being struck by a car this topic has become more important.

At the beginning of the summer, I made two phone calls to the City of Lodi. The first was to the department that maintains the streets to ask if they would trim the foliage away from the speed limit sign on the northbound lane of the 700 block of Mills Avenue. Two or three days later, the sign was again visible, and I thank the workers who accomplished this in such an expedient manner.

My second phone call was to the traffic division of the LPD. I asked them to monitor traffic on the 700 block of Mills Avenue due to the excessive amount of speeders and drivers who were ignoring the stop signs at Tokay and Vine streets. No action to date has been taken.

Backing out of my driveway, I have noticed the traffic going southbound on Mills is bumper-to-bumper. The only way this could be possible is that drivers do not fully stop at the stop sign at Tokay Street. The number of drivers not even stopping before making a right turn off Mills (and other streets) is infinitesimal. Stop signs or red lights do not deter them.

Drivers in Lodi are either ignorant of traffic laws, or they deliberately violate the law. Drivers cannot seem to stay in the driving lane — they veer into the bicycle lane. Twice I have almost been hit or sideswiped by drivers driving in the bike lane. One girl was busy texting and had no idea she had almost hit my parked car.

In school zones, drivers do not obey speed limits when students are present, and they do not obey the flashing crosswalk signs. I always wait for parents and students to reach the opposite sidewalk before proceeding. This usually causes an angry driver to blast me with their car’s horn.

I understand Lodi PD has priorities, but traffic enforcement should be one of them. JOANNE DELSOLAR Lodi