After getting a spate of complaints about distracted and bad driving on city streets, the Ellsworth Police Department has charged dozens of drivers this week for running red lights and texting while driving.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, officers monitoring the traffic signal on High Street at Walgreens and the Maine Coast Mall stopped more than 30 vehicles. Five drivers were summoned for texting while driving and 17 were summoned for running a red light.
Two other details elsewhere in Ellsworth Tuesday netted 10 more people for texting while driving and two for running red lights. In at least one case, according to Officer Toni Ryan, a woman was charged both with texting while driving and with running a red light.
“It was mostly local [people],” Ryan said of the individuals who were charged or warned. Summer brings a lot of tourists and seasonal residents to the area, she said, but most of the people who were pulled over live here in Maine.
In response to citizen complaints and social media posts about vehicles running the red light at the Walgreens…
Posted by Ellsworth Police Department on Wednesday, 25 July 2018
In a Facebook post, the department said it set up the distracted driving detail at the Walgreens intersection after getting citizen complaints and seeing social media posts about vehicles running the red light there.
“We will continue to make a presence at this intersection to help make it safer,” police wrote.
The comments in response to the post were mostly positive, with many thanking the police department for taking action on the issue — though some made suggestions about where else in Ellsworth the department should crack down on driving offenses. Some commenters also said that the some of the time sequences for green lights in the city should be lengthened.
“Thank you EPD. Running red lights on High Street has become out of control,” posted one local business owner. “It is not just people from out of state doing it.”
The traffic stops resulted in other charges or warnings, too, such as vehicle defects or an expired inspection sticker, while two drivers were arrested on warrants.
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