Traffic Stop Increases in April, May

You may have noticed more Hinesburg police officers monitoring traffic around town; there's a reason.

By Claire MacDonald
Hinesburg Record Staff Reporter

Over the last two months, Hinesburg police have been paying closer attention to the driving on the town’s roads.

This April, the Hinesburg Police Department participated in National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. In addition to usual traffic control, Chief of Police Chris Romance said, the department paid special attention to individuals using their phones while driving, texting while driving, and generally behaving aggressively.

The department conducted 144 traffic stops in April, a significant increase compared to 43 in April 2025.

Romance said that the Hinesburg police have conducted National Distracted Driving Awareness Month in the past, but this year the department participated for additional days and cracked down more aggressively on violations.

May was National Seatbelt Awareness Month, and the department saw 150 traffic stops as opposed to 52 last May.

The significant escalation of traffic stops, Romance said, was made possible to the increased number of officers on the force and hours of operation. Both allowed the department to observe more violations.

The addition of Romance to the staff in February brought the number of officers from three to four. For part of last year, the department had only two officers.

“Adding a fourth officer to the department allowed us to change the schedules around and provide more coverage,” he said.

Additionally, as of May 20, the department changed their coverage hours to 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Prior, the hours of operation were 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“The increased amount of hours throughout the day gives us more time to answer calls here in Hinesburg, to patrol the roadways in Hinesburg, and also to enforce traffic violations,” Romance explained.

Additional grant funding, he added, allowed the officers to work more hours in addition to their normal schedule.

“We get the funding from the county, so it doesn’t affect the taxes here in Hinesburg at all for any of the residents,” he said.

The next time the department will concentrate on specific types of violations will be in September. They will be focusing on impaired driving.

Despite the substantial increase in the number of traffic stops this year, Romance said he doesn’t see traffic violations as an issue in Hinesburg.

“I think Hinesburg is a very safe community,” he said. “We patrol our roadways on a daily basis, and we strive to have people obey the traffic laws. And when they’re not, we want to be there to enforce them.”