The Manteca Police Department’s traffic enforcement division sent a clear message to drivers along Moffat Boulevard on Tuesday: obey the laws or face a ticket.

In response to several complaints about speeding along the street – which provides access from Main Street to the Highway 99 onramp near Austin Road, but passes through a school zone in between – the city’s traffic enforcement officers were out in force to observe the speeding firsthand and to monitor for pedestrian violations near Manteca High School.

And at point, three separate motorcycles officers all had people pulled over on the shoulder for violations of California’s vehicle code.

The traffic unit, which is now staffed with four officers and a sergeant, stated in a release announcing the effort that its goal is to “reduce traffic collisions by educating the public as well as providing enforcement action to discourage people from committing the violations most commonly associated with the causes of most traffic collisions.”

The city also participates in an alternating saturation patrol program where traffic officers from throughout San Joaquin County join forces for a day and blanket a community and its problem areas to educate drivers about the dangers of speeding, following too closely, using a cell phone while driving, and other practices that can endanger the life of the driver or others on the public roadways.

Hundreds of tickets have been issued across the county because of the program, and Manteca has hosted other police departments to deal with emerging problems and ongoing issues with traffic and speed enforcement.

The crosswalk near Manteca High School has become an issue of concern for parents because of the speed of the vehicles that use Moffat Boulevard as a pass-through to either gain access to Highway 99 or avoid the multiple traffic lights when coming from the busy highway. Some motorists see Moffat Boulevard as a viable alternative to the routinely-jammed interchange at Highway 99 and the Highway 120 Bypass, leading to long lines of cars at the intersection with Moffat Boulevard and Woodward Avenue in the afternoon hours.

According to one police official, traffic complaints – chiefly, speeding – is one of the most common received from the public when interacting outside of an official capacity.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.