TxDOT wants cops to crack down on speeders, but APD's traffic enforcement units are understaffed

With traffic crashes killing about 10 people a day across the state, the Texas Department of Transportation is launching its first-ever safety campaign focused on the leading cause of road deaths: speeding. The new campaign includes an increase in speed limit enforcement by police across Texas from June 7 to June 21, officials said at the unveiling Thursday outside TxDOT's Austin District headquarters. "It often takes the threat of an expensive ticket or other legal consequences to get drivers' attention and to motivate them to make adjustments to their driving," TxDOT's director of traffic safety Michael Chacon said. Eric Miesse, an Austin police commander who oversees highway enforcement, said the Austin Police department supports the campaign, which is called Operation Slowdown. "Drivers go faster than the speed limit all the time and yet many haven't been involved in a wreck," Miesse said. "But what's important to keep in mind is that your luck may run out."

But APD is so short-staffed that it's shifted efforts away from cracking down on speeders and other traffic violators in recent years. APD's traffic enforcement units have been stripped of officers, who've been reassigned to patrol duties like responding to 911 calls. The City of Austin earlier this year even floated the idea of hiring Travis County constables and sheriff's deputies to work overtime traffic enforcement shifts. But with Travis County facing its own law enforcement staffing shortages, the proposal hasn't happened yet. "Unfortunately, most of my staff from highway enforcement had to go back to patrol to help with our staffing needs," Miesse told KUT after the TxDOT news conference. "We had a lot of retirements and a lot of people who left the department early." About 10.5% of APD's 1,809 sworn positions are vacant, according to a memo last month from the city's assistant city manager.