61 cited during Healdsburg traffic sting

Fifteen officers who converged on Healdsburg to look for bad drivers cited 61 people for speeding, driving through stop signs and a variety of violations, police officials said Thursday.

All but a handful of the 75 motorists stopped were issued citations, including 12 speeding tickets, Healdsburg Lt. Matt Jenkins said.

The operation ran from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and focused on streets near schools during morning drop-off as well as a crash-prone area of Healdsburg Avenue and Grove Street where speeding complaints are common, Jenkins said.

Healdsburg’s one traffic officer was joined by 14 officers from the CHP, Santa Rosa, Windsor, Sonoma, Petaluma and Rohnert Park through a Office of Traffic Safety grant.

“Our biggest complaint in town from citizens are traffic complaints, that tells us we have an issue with motorists driving poorly,” Jenkins said.

Officers also cited drivers for cellphone and registration violations and gave one driver of a truck overloaded with gravel a citation for having an unsafe truck load, Jenkins said.

The city will next plan a future enforcement event to focus on pedestrian and bicyclist safety.