Traffic Division

Hours:  Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Taylor Police Department Traffic Division’s primary duty is to help ensure the safety and welfare of motorists traveling in and through Taylor.  Two major freeways—I-94 and I-75—travel through the city in addition to a major thoroughfare in Telegraph Road.  More than 160,000 vehicles are estimated to move through Taylor on a daily basis.  The Traffic Division investigates serious crashes and conducts crash follow-up investigations.  This division also manages all special traffic enforcement, abandoned vehicles and various other programs and special projects.

The Taylor Police Department Traffic Division is comprised of three full-time sworn officers, who are certified in accident reconstruction, weigh master, commercial motor vehicle enforcement, child safety seat enforcement and other specialties. These officers’ responsibilities include:

• Reviewing traffic crashes
• Reconstruction of fatal and serious injury accidents
• Commercial motor vehicle enforcement
• Investigation and prosecution of all traffic-related criminal cases
• Training police personnel in radar operation, laser operation and drunken driving investigations.
• Conducting traffic related research
• Proposing additions and amendments to the City of Taylor Ordinance Code
• Liaisons with Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT)
• Maintaining and providing traffic statistics
• Providing expert testimony
• On-call availability to investigate fatal and serious traffic crashes

Traffic Projects:

• “Determining Effective Strategies for Enforcing the State Booster Seat Law Requirements:  Two-year cooperative agreement commencing September 2008 among the City of Taylor and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to test enforcement strategies for enforcing booster seat laws.  The Traffic Division will test various strategies and report their findings to NHTSA with the goal of improving the rate of booster seat use throughout the country.
• OWI/Seat Belt Enforcement:  Cooperative agreement between the City of Taylor and the Office of highway Safety Planning (OHSP) to enforce drunken driving and seat belt laws.
• Community Help in Policing Program (CHIP)  The program allows for the exchange of information between the community and the department regarding traffic related and miscellaneous criminal activities.

Highway Enforcement Investigative Safety Team (HEIST)

Taylor P.D. maintain a three-member unit referred to as the HEIST Division, which is responsible for handling traffic enforcement on both passenger and commercial motor vehicles on the city’s interstates.

Cpl. Jon Gersky
Certified weigh master, Commercial Motor Vehicle Officer (CVSA certified), Certified Standardized Field Sobriety Test Instructor, administrator of OWI/Seat Belt enforcement program.

Cpl. Patrick Raboczkay
Certified weigh master, department representative to the Taylor Planning Commission

Cpl. Ed Shalda
Certified weigh master

Motor Carrier Program:

The Traffic Division has been working on motor carrier enforcement for many years.  The program is designed to ensure the safety of the motoring public by:

• Assuring that truck drivers are obeying traffic laws and operating properly equipped vehicles
• Reducing potential damage to City and County roads by identifying improperly loaded or overloaded trucks.