×

Wheeling Police: Just One Warning So Far on New Pedestrian Safety Ordinance

photo by: Emma Delk

According to Wheeling Police Department Lt. Tony Campbell, driver inattention is responsible for “at least half of all crashes” in Wheeling.

WHEELING — Three days into enforcement of the city’s new pedestrian safety ordinance, the Wheeling Police Department has given just one verbal warning to a violator.

The city council passed the ordinance banning the exchange of items between pedestrians and drivers in early November. Police began enforcing the new law, which aims to keep drivers and pedestrians safe from potential accidents, went into effect on Wednesday.

Though the change garnered pushback from several community members, council members passed the ordinance with only one vote of dissent.

Over the last several weeks, Wheeling Police Department officers have been making efforts to ensure that regulars at the common panhandling locations in town and motorists were informed of the upcoming ordinance and potential consequences for violations.

Officers were able to find and meet with five individuals during this period, said Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger.

“We wanted to give as much information not only to those that may participate in activities while being on the shoulder, but also motorists, because both are subject to the ordinance and its enforcement,” Schwertfeger said.

The police department has not received any calls reporting violations of the ordinance.

“I’d like to think that our efforts to get with those folks and try to educate them and provide them copies and explanations of the ordinance, I’d like to say that did work,” Schwertfeger said.

Schwertfeger said the department wanted to focus on the education component of rolling out the new ordinance after a past change to traffic patterns led to several citations when there was not as much information present.

Starting at $2.99/week.

Subscribe Today