PORT ARTHUR — Port Arthur Police Chief Mark Blanton said traffic enforcement is in place in his city to save lives. Having to handle 17 cases in 2006 that involved automobile crashes, Blanton said the newly formed traffic unit is designated to alter behavior of drivers.

“Last year, 17 families’ lives were changed forever because of speeding,” he said. “It’s proven that speed kills.”

With the anticipated increase of traffic headed to Port Arthur, coupled with numerous complaints of citizens to both the police chief and city council, lead Blanton to ask city council for approval of three extra officers to form a traffic division.

“On average, speeders in the city are going 14.897 miles over the speed limit,” he said while shaking his head. “We’ve caught people going 68 in a 30 mph and 108 in a 60 mph zone. When you pull them over you have to be professional, but you want to ask them who they’re trying to kill.”

Blanton explained that another factor in starting the traffic unit was the number of accidents that involved marked police cars. The police chief said four of his patrol cars have been damaged in the pass year because of speeding accidents, one accident sent a police officer to the hospital.

“We thought we were going to lose him,” Blanton said.

Although three officers were approved for the traffic unit, which began March 12, Officer Ricky Antoine is currently the only officer in the unit.

With recommendations from Deputy Chief Dennis Odom, Antoine, a senior officer, was chosen for the first position on the traffic unit for his diligence in catching speeders.

“He is always professional and he does his job,” Blanton said. “This program will continue and as manpower allows, it will expand,” he said.

While still receiving complaints of speeding in certain areas of the city, Blanton said he gets a few calls from people thanking him for making the streets a safer place. However, he also gets telephone calls complaining about Officer Antoine and high number of citations he issues.

“People wouldn’t have to fear him if they would just follow the speed limit,” he said. “They don’t understand that insurance rates are based on the number of accidents in a city and if we could not have any accidents, we could really affect insurance rates.”

Chief Blanton and Deputy Chief Odom will review the number of accidents from last year and compare the number with this year’s report to see if the traffic unit is making progress. Blanton explained that money received from citation payments goes into the department’s general fund.

“This traffic unit won’t go away, not with the increase of drivers we’ll see over the next eight years,” Blanton said.