Milwaukee Wants More Reckless Drivers Towed

A Milwaukee Police Department officer pulls over a driver on N. Broadway. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The City of Milwaukee is seeking to ramp up its fight against reckless driving.

“I think we’re all on the same page: first offense, impound, regardless of ownership of the vehicle,” said Alderman Lamont Westmoreland to the Judiciary & Legislation Committee on Oct. 2.

The city is seeking a state law change that would allow it to tow and impound vehicles driven recklessly. The change would eliminate existing restrictions that allow towing only when the vehicle is driven recklessly and is also unregistered or the driver has an unpaid reckless driving ticket.

A day after advocating for a crackdown to his colleagues, Westmoreland made the trip 90 miles west to Madison to make the case before the Senate’s Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.

“Reckless driving has been, in my opinion, the biggest threat to public safety in the city of Milwaukee,” said Westmoreland on Oct. 3. “I think we have been soft and warm to reckless driving for far too long.”

He called the current restrictions a “loophole” and noted that the May addition of the ability to tow vehicles for unpaid reckless driving tickets resulted in zero additional tows. City officials have attributed the lack of additional tows to the fact that officers can’t readily see if a ticket is paid or not.

“It’s a two-ton weapon,” said the alderman. “We should look at this the same way we look at firearms. Let’s get as many of them off the street as possible.”

A bill pending before the Wisconsin State Senate would grant the city its wish. But it comes with a component the city doesn’t want and might ultimately prevent the proposal from becoming law.

SB 410 would allow the city to immediately impound vehicles when they are driven more than 25 mph over the speed limit, used to flee a law enforcement officer or used for racing. But it would also allow impoundment in any scenario where the driver’s license is suspended, revoked or more than three months expired.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson‘s administration, including intergovernmental relations director Jim Bohl, has warned that the expired license tow provision could lead to Democrats opposing the bill and Governor Tony Evers vetoing it.

“The behavior itself of reckless driving is something I think we all have a common denominator around, and the desire is to really focus the efforts at ratcheting first offenses in those instances around that abhorrent and dangerous driving as opposed to technicalities for people who have a lack of financial means,” said Bohl on Oct. 2.

“I am not worried about anybody who can’t afford this,” said Westmoreland to the Senate committee. “All of these penalties are self inflicted. If you can’t afford the fines because you don’t want your vehicle impounded because you have to get to work, it’s simple. Follow the law.”

The committee took no action at the end of its hearing. Westmoreland was the only individual to speak aside from lead sponsor Sen. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere). “I have two members of my family that went to the hospital earlier this year after they were hit by a reckless driver,” said Jacque in introducing his bill. “It’s in our big cities, it’s in our communities all throughout Wisconsin.”

In addition to Jacque, the bill is sponsored Van Wanggaard, Joan Ballweg and Howard Marklein and representatives William Penterman, LaKeshia Myers and Janel Brandtjen.

Myers is the lone Democrat to co-sponsor the bill. A portion of her assembly district overlaps with Westmoreland’s aldermanic district, which council members have noted is one of the worst impacted by reckless driving.

The Common Council’s formal position, unanimously adopted Oct. 10, is to support the bill if the provision on towing those with license issues is removed and if a second provision requiring impound for 90 days is modified to “up to 90 days.”

“This is probably the closest it has ever gotten to where we’re going to real action on something that is going to be substantive,” said Ald. Michael Murphy on Oct. 3. “Nobody wants to be in the business of taking people’s cars; we want to be in the business of changing people’s behaviors.”

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Related Legislation: File 211687