The Clallam County Sheriff’s Department is shifting its top focus to keeping motorists safe on county roads.
Effective immediately, Capt. Steve Snover said deputies will be monitoring traffic and stopping offenders who are speeding, driving recklessly or otherwise acting unsafe.
“It’s become apparent to us through calls to us from private citizens that the driving public has gotten faster and faster on our rural county roads,” Snover said Tuesday.
Among the 16 fatalities on North Olympic Peninsula roads this year, one occurred at Woodcock Road and Sequim-Dungeness Way, a county intersection just north of Sequim.
The others occurred on state highways.
While the Washington State Patrol is conducting traffic emphases on U.S. Highway 101, Snover said the Sheriff’s Department will look at all county roads, especially thoroughfares, and the populated Joyce, Clallam Bay and Sekiu areas on state Highway 112.
“I want (the public) to understand that we take traffic safety seriously,” Snover said. “We’re refocusing on that goal, and we want everybody to drive safely.”
