FORT MYERS, Fla. — Fort Myers Police Chief Jason Fields says his department is addressing traffic concerns on McGregor Boulevard, but notes several other streets in the city require greater attention.
Fields identified Colonial, Fowler, Cleveland, Winkler, and State Road 82 as streets of higher concern for traffic enforcement.
Watch Fort Myers Community Correspondent Miyoshi Price explains traffic concerns on McGregor:
"Over 30 operations from the traffic unit, just in the first quarter of 2025 which is far more than the first quarter of 2024 so we are increasing our presence, not only city wide, but about half a dozen of those operations, including McGregor Boulevard," Fields said.
The police chief acknowledged complaints about crashes at McGregor intersections, vehicles passing in the median, and truck traffic violations.
"Dump trucks! We have noticed that when the officers are out there doing patrols, we have noticed a decrease since the ordinance passed, and we have more signage," Fields said. "We did a lot of education in the first probably a month or two, to let any drivers know that there's no through trucking."
Fields explained that violators have initially received warnings, but his traffic team is tracking repeat offenders and will continue issuing citations while using reasonable discretion.
He also clarified that some truck traffic on McGregor is legitimate.
"Just because you see a truck in an intersection doesn't mean it's violating it," Fields said. "So we have to follow that truck the entire distance of McGregor for the city limits, and then we can cite them."
Councilman Liston Bochette recently presented photos to the city council showing collisions and dump trucks on McGregor Boulevard. According to Bochette, these photos were taken in May.
In a statement to Fox 4, Bochette outlined several solutions he believes would help address the situation including hiring more traffic officers, stationing pairs of officers with radios a half-mile apart to issue tickets, and implementing automated traffic cameras.
Fields confirmed the department is in the process of hiring more traffic officers. He also noted that the method of stationing officers at intervals is already being implemented throughout the city.
"Depending on the complaints that we're getting, and depending on the violators we're trying to locate," Fields said.
Regarding automated traffic cameras, Fields expressed some reservations about implementation.
"I'm going to venture to say that there's going to be the lift on the police department to validate any tickets before they go out, you have to have human eyes on those tickets in order to send those out," Fields said.
"If the police need a budget for traffic control we can find it," Bochette said, emphasizing the importance of traffic officers.
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