MORE TICKETS WILL LIKELY MEAN SAFER STREETS

Although Cape Girardeau police have issued nearly 1,000 more tickets in the first half of 2001 than in the first six months of last year, there has been a slight increase in the number of vehicular accidents requiring a police response.

The idea is that increased enforcement of traffic laws should make motorists more aware of and more responsible for their driving habits and, in the process, result in fewer accidents.

From the perspective of motorists, strict traffic enforcement is a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, motorists like to see serious traffic offenders getting tickets from police officers.

In fact, many of these stick-it-to-'em citizens regularly call Speak Out to complain when they see blatant traffic offenses particularly when cars whiz through yellow and red stoplights with patrol cars in plain view -- but no chase is given.

There is a moral sense among most motorists that if I have to obey the law, the police ought to make everyone else toe the line as well.

It is this same compliance with most traffic laws that keeps our streets and highways safe in general.

It's only the occasional driver who passes slow-moving vehicles -- usually going the 25-mph speed limit -- on Broadway.

If everyone tried to do that or thought they could get away with it, driving the length of one of the city's main thoroughfares would be utter chaos.

But, on the other hand, motorists tend to turn prickly when they are on the receiving end of traffic tickets.

Maybe they don't complain about that first ticket, particularly when they know they were going 10 mph or 15 mph over the limit or when they clearly saw the stoplight turn yellow and then red as they cruised through an intersection.

The concern, of course, comes when the police department steps up traffic enforcement and the same motorists fail to learn from the first tickets and continue to violate the law. Pretty soon, irate Speak Out callers start complaining about needlessly aggressive speed traps and all those ticket-happy officers.

How the public perceives traffic enforcement is further magnified by such factors as police personnel levels and the periodic need to crack down on other crimes that offend taxpayers, such as drug dealing and residential burglaries.

Sometimes the police just don't have enough officers on duty to write a lot of tickets to speeders. More officers have been available this year to focus on traffic safety.

So which do we want?

It's reasonable to think most motorists want safe streets where would-be traffic violators are held in check by the knowledge they are likely to be hauled into municipal court if they become a menace to other motorists.

That's the way it should be.

And, it appears, the police department's recent efforts to keep all of us safe is on the right track.