Carson City Sheriff’s Office cracks down on King Street speeders

The Carson City Sheriff’s Office is cracking down on traffic enforcement around school zones, as they have been getting multitude of complaints of speeding drivers in school zones.

Sheriff Ken Furlong said their agencies and the Public Works Department of Transportation have received complaints from residents and school officials people have not been adhering to the school zones around town, especially the zone around Borerwich-Bray Elementary and Carson Middle School.

“King Street is just one example of an issues that has gained focus over the last few weeks,” Furlong said. “And the purpose of our traffic management is to educate our residents on the safety of driving.”

This area was brought to the Sheriff’s attention after volunteers from their Volunteering In Partnership with the Sheriff program provided more than a dozen warning letters to Furlong for drivers speeding. He said he’s also been asked by the Carson Middle School School Resource Officer for assistance with speeding drivers.

Furlong said the way to do that is to enforce a no tolerance zone around the King Street schools to force drivers to slow down.

“All of our programs are designed to get voluntary compliance, but it is not being followed in the school zones,” Furlong said. “I am not out to punish people, but after these many notices (about speeders) it is clear that area is enormously problematic.”

The Sheriff’s Office will implement a special operation, increasing patrol in the area, in order to get people to start slowing down.

“This is serious because of the children in the area,” Furlong said. “There is no other alternative in support of the voluntary programs we have going.”

Though the speeding on King Street isn’t a unique situation, Furlong said this school year, they have seen an increasing problem issue in the school zones.

“I am not going to wait until a child gets hurt to do something about this problem,” Furlong said.