INDIANAPOLIS — In the aftermath of 5-year-old Vinceon Martin being a victim of a hit-and-run on the east side of Indianapolis, City-County Council Vice President Zach Adamson is wanting to see a change.
According to Adamson, there are not enough officers on the streets to catch speeding drivers.
People are driving to fast too recklessly.
Speeding is a major concern for Adamson.
"(Speeding is) A really big issue obviously for anybody that's driven on the streets," Adamson said. "The condition of our road but also the rash of lunatic drivers that are driving the roads with us."
Martin was injured in a hit-and-run in the Inglewood neighborhood on the east side. That's in Adamson's district.
Martin has 16 staples in his head and a fractured pelvis. His grandfather, Gerald Hatcher, said he's a trooper.
Step by step, Martin is pushing himself to get better. He's now home recovering.
"He is just getting stronger and stronger and stronger," Hatcher said.
He's just one child hit by a vehicle this year.
WRTV uncovered just this week three children have been hit in the morning while waiting to go to school in central Indiana.
"About two weeks ago, I had a godson hit on 34th and Wallace on a dirt bike," Hatcher said. "Because it was a head injury, he died."
Adamson points to roads needing safer designs for pedestrians, but says IMPD also needs to take a stricter approach to traffic enforcement.
"When you don't have enough (officers) then people just assume that there is no enforcement," Adamson said. "So having rules in place is only as good as your ability to enforce them."
IMPD Officer William Young said traffic officers aren't being pulled to work in other departments but can still take patrol calls.
Young said the department has written more citations so far this year compared last.
"Our officers can't be everywhere at one time," Young said. "We only have so many traffic officers. We only have so many police officers. However, if we learn of a particular area, as we stated before, we'll try to put our focus on that area."
IMPD and the City-County Council agree to work together to find a solution. They also say the public needs to slow down.
Young encourages people with a traffic complaint to submit that here.
https://www.indy.gov/activity/send-a-traffic-complaint
