Airway PD traffic school is proposed

AIRWAY HEIGHTS — On a night where a large part of the agenda was devoted to a review of all things public safety in Airway Heights, city council heard a presentation on a possible new track for drivers.

Officers Matt Keetch and Mikeal Suniga of the city’s police department offered the initial glimpse of a proposed new program they would like to launch called a traffic school at the April 26 study session.

Just what is a traffic school?

They are designed, among other things, to focus on those cited for a minor traffic infraction. They help improve knowledge of traffic laws as well as instruct on safe driving strategies and techniques.

Perhaps, more important from the financial standpoint — insurance rates in particular — enrolling keeps a moving violation from being added to one’s driving record.

“Probably most of you guys would be in the same position as I would,” Keetch told council. “The last time we had any type of Driver’s Ed was when we all got our driver’s license when we were 15-16 years-old; so it’s been a while for a lot of us and I think everybody could benefit from a little bit of a refresher.”

Should the proposal be voted on and into law at the May 3 legislative session of the council the class is designed to promote save driving through education, allow interaction with officers in the process, get a better understanding of traffic laws that may have been forgotten — and help reduce collisions that are a threat to public safety.

Keetch offered data from 2020 to validate those concerns. There were:

112 total collisions

48 resulted in injuries

There was 1 fatality

Six DUI arrests were conducted by Airway Heights PD

Officers wrote 71 criminal citations (reckless driving, driving while license suspended and DUI).

“Obviously 2020 we were shut down quite a bit with COVID so some of these numbers might not look very high,” Keetch said. “But a lot of that’s because we were limited on what we were out doing.”

Another startling number was that the state of Washington in No. 4 nationally in distracted driving accidents.

Keetch and Suniga, himself a 14-year AWHPD veteran, have built this program to be funded by cited motorists themselves with fines used to pay for school.

If approved, the school would be conducted on random days based on officer availability. Enrollees would initially attend in Airway Heights, but there are plans to offer classes online. Specific length of classes was not revealed.

“I think it sounds like a pretty good opportunity for folks to maybe get some re-education versus a stiff penalty for something that hopefully will correct some wrongs and help educate,” Mayor Sonny Weathers suggested.

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].