Traffic Safety Emphasis in Wenatchee Results in 37 Citations

Almost 40 drivers have tickets after Traffic Units from Wenatchee Police and the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic safety emphasis at Ninth Steet and North Chelan Avenue. 

The two-hour operation on Tuesday focused on distracted driving. 

Wenatchee Police Chief Edgar Reinfeld says the cross walk at Ninth and Chelan has been an ongoing problem.  

"There's a lot of foot traffic between parking off site patients and other people coming around the facility for Confluence Health," said Reinfeld. "Over the years there have been changes to traffic there, including no right turns on red onto Chelan, again to protect the crosswalk." 

There were seven tickets issued for unlawful turn on a red light, six for cellphone use while driving, and four for not having insurance. 

Reinfeld says officers did not expect some of the other findings. 

“What they discovered was a lot of people were not wearing seatbelts, which is surprising,” Reinfeld said. “We haven’t seen that in a long time.” 

Police used an officer in plain clothes to spot violations from the sidewalk before drivers were pulled over. 

There were 20 people cited for not wearing seatbelts. 

Wenatchee Police conducted a previous traffic safety emphasis on May 30, where they wrote 14 citations for speeding within a two-hour period.  

That operation took place as vehicles approached the Wenatchee River Bridge southbound on State Route 285. 

Officers targeted vehicles speeding where the posted speed limit is 45 mph. The fastest vehicle whose driver received a citation was traveling 61 mph or 16 mph over the posted limit. 

WPD will be conducting more speed patrols in the SR 285 area in the weeks ahead and the results could eventually lead to changes in the amount of signage within that stretch of roadway or even to the speed limit itself.