Stuart streets are about to be safer. <\/p>\n
The police department has launched a new traffic enforcement unit designed to address growing concerns about speeding and unsafe driving throughout the city. <\/p>\n
WATCH: Stuart police chief says they are trying to encourage safer driving<\/p>\n
The initiative has been a priority for Police Chief Flamur Zenelovic, who has focused on traffic issues during his first five months leading the department.<\/p>\n
Two patrol cars monitored traffic Friday afternoon, pulling over drivers clocked over the speed limit. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the number of vehicles in the city and the constant traffic, that\u2019s one of our biggest source of complaints,\u201d Zenelovic said.<\/p>\n
Residents say dangerous driving has become increasingly common, especially during the winter months when traffic grows.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the high season everyone loses that kind of chilled relaxed atmosphere, they have to be somewhere in a hurry, either to a restaurant, to the beach, and unfortunately that introduces a lot of risk,\u201d said Stuart resident Jim Row.<\/p>\n
Traffic News<\/p>\n
Stuart PD issues dozens of tickets in speeding crackdown<\/p>\n
Zenelovic said increased enforcement is aimed at preventing crashes and encouraging safer habits among motorists. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really pushing on the citation side of things because we\u2019re trying to change the behavior,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s city budget includes funding for three officers assigned solely to traffic enforcement. Their patrols will focus on high-risk areas including the Roosevelt Bridge, Ocean Boulevard and Monterey Road, Colorado Avenue and U.S. 1, and Kanner Highway.<\/p>\n
Some residents say they welcome the added police presence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important to do that. There have been a lot of accidents especially on the bridge so it\u2019s definitely a priority to crack down on that [and] ensure there\u2019s safety on the roads,\u201d said resident Bethany Garcia.<\/p>\n
Row added that accountability may influence drivers to slow down. <\/p>\n
\u201cEconomics shape behavior and fines, tickets, when you get that insurance bump because you got points you\u2019re going to think twice about I gotta take my foot back off the pedal a little bit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Zenelovic added he hopes the stepped-up enforcement sends a clear message. <\/p>\n
He said, \u201cWe\u2019re taking it seriously and we want motorists that are passing through town to remember Stuart PD is probably going to enforce things pretty tight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Portions of this story were assisted by artificial intelligence tools and reviewed by a WPTV journalists to ensure accuracy, clarity, and adherence to editorial standards.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stuart streets are about to be safer. The police department has launched a new traffic enforcement unit designed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-49920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}